Even Evil has a Heart
by Atcote
Summary: The story of Ganondorf from when he was the Great King of Hyrule, and the young boy who grew into the greatest and most pure force of evil that Hyrule has ever known.
1. Prologue: Hyrule Falls

**Even Evil has a Heart**

Prologue: Hyrule Falls

The army lay sprawled out on Hyrule Field. The sky seemed to brew with anger, and rain started to fall heavily on the plane. The leader of the army was clothed in black armour, with his patterned cape slashing wildly in the air. He checked the reins on his horse, and then got onto the saddle. Today the undoing would be done. The plan would be played out. Hyrule will fall.

The warriors of the man were veiled in black, hardly visible if not for their white mounts. Ganondorf looked straight ahead, through hooded eyes. The gate was the one thing between him and all of which he wished… all but one thing. He took one last look at his feminine army, and his horse stood on two as he withdrew his sword, and struck it towards the walls of Hyrule city, a great roar rising from the army, as they ran into the gate.

* * *

Ganondorf was the first to dive into it, but despite its great strength, the wall crumbled as his steed leapt through it and continued on like nothing had happened, and began to speed through the city.

Two guards were meant to watch for any danger, but instead they decided to go off and pick up some beer for the night. As they made their way towards the guard towers, they heard horses. Many horses. In the darkness and rain, a mounted figure emerged, and began to storm down the street. Not heeding the guards.

"Slow down!" One of them yelled.

"We said slow down!" Hollered the other.

He did not. And other horses arose from the darkness, following the leader. The guards panicked and threw their beer at them, then tried to run. They were the first of many to be killed by the invaders. Their blood washed away by the rain.

* * *

Almost two hundred guards rallied themselves at the pass to Hyrule castle. The town was taken by the invaders. They left nothing alive in their pass. Almost everyone was dead, or had managed to escape to the fields, or they hid, waiting to die. The final stand at Hyrule castle was to be Ganondorf's end, thought the guards. Along with the desert women. They surrounded the castle, archers within to fire upon the enemy at any given moment. The gate crushed like foil, with over two hundred of the enemy charging through the pass. The guards were overwhelmed. This force was too huge, they had no chance. Many guards fought back, defending their land to bloody death, others ran, only to be trampled by the horses. Even once they reached the castle gates, with arrows falling with the rain, they wouldn't be stopped. It even seemed that the arrows fell around Ganondorf, with only the rain passing through. Ganondorf unmounted, and began to continue into the castle, destroying the gate with a great slash of his sword, which cut the air, the force flying through the gate, breaking all the wood into mere splinters, and jumped through the open entrance and strode off into the hallowed halls. He was alone on this one. No one dared follow. This was his business. More then a hundred soldiers fell by his sword, not a single one even being able to raise his spear or sword. Ganondorf came to the door he wanted. The king's bedroom. He kicked it down and saw the king standing at the foot of his bed, with his five elite guard.

"What are you doing Ganondorf? Why are you killing all these people you swore to protect?" Said the king.

"I swore to nothing." Said Ganondorf roughly.

"This is unforgivable Ganon!"

"I know."

The guards jumped at him, but two of them were dead as soon as they moved their feet, cut down by Ganondorf's sword before they knew that he was even moving.

The other three dived towards Ganondorf, but he jumped out of the way, the only thing being cut was his patience.

"Enough of this! This is my kingdom now!" Yelled Ganondorf, and sent out a surge of lightning from his clenched fist, killing the guards, or at least making it so they wouldn't be standing again. Ganondorf felt very happy with his latest victory, and turned to where the king was standing, and then felt his cape fall from his back.

"You think I cannot wield a sword Ganon?" Said the king as he landed.

Ganondorf picked up his cape and wrapped it around his right hand. He then dived towards the king, pushing him back.

"Do you have no decency Ganon? Are you as bad as your comrades in that wicked army?" Sniped the king.

This struck a cord with Ganondorf, and he lunged towards the king, smashing his sword, and making him fly onto the balcony.

"Why do this? Why?! You cared Ganon! We said we would ally! Damn you!" Screamed the king, blind rage taking over his senses.

"I'll be sure to tell your daughter that for you, King Hyrule." Calmly said Ganondorf.

"Zelda?! What have you done with Zelda?"

"Not what I have done…" Ganondorf said as he lifted the king from the ground and held him above the courtyard. "But what I will do." And he let go of the king, cutting off his head as he began to fall. He fell into the flooding water of the courtyard, soaking the water of the land with his blood.

Ganondorf looked over his new land. The only place that hadn't been ravaged by his army was the Temple of Time, that would be where the villages had hidden. He saw his army flood into the temple, and many screams of terror rose into the air, but one caught his ear. The cry of a young boy.

He closed his eyes, and felt a tear fall down his face. He opened his eyes, and picked up the tear with his finger, and looked at it in disgust, and threw it down onto the devastated land, and then he began to remember. Remember what he longed to forget…


	2. Chapter 1: Once in a Hundred Years

Chapter One: Once in a Hundred Years…

It was a quiet day in the desert fortress. The hot sand surrounded the complex, kicking itself up with the wind, and blowing over the buildings. The Gerudo worked happily in the keep, unafraid. There was nothing to fear in the fortress. And whatever they would fear was quickly dealt with. Two of the girls were playing Hop Scotch out the front of a particular hovel. They were the daughters of Nurse Wayamad, the chief midwife. The girls continued their game, in spite of the importance of what was happening inside. Not that anyone knew.

"One, two, three…" said one of the girls, as she hopped the spaces, and picked up the stone, and then began on the rest. "Four, five, seven."

"Hey! You missed out on six!" Said the other girl.

"Did not!" Said the one playing.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did t…" But she was interrupted by a scream from inside the house. The baby was being born.

Inside, it was obvious the mother was struggling with the newborn. More then any other she's seen in a long time, thought Nurse Wayamad. The lady kept pushing, sometimes letting out a large scream.

"Marget, it's going to be okay, just give it a few more pushes." Said the Nurse.

She kept yelling. Nurse Wayamad was worried. Death by childbirth was rare with the Gerudo, most of them being very strong women, but Marget was having trouble with this one. Her first daughter thought Wayamad. She must be very proud.

"One more push, that's it Marget!" Said Wayamad.

She released a huge scream, and then it was over… well, it had really all began.

"What should I name her?" Said Marget.

"I think she looks like a…" And she gasped.

"What's the matter? Is she sick?" Said Marget.

"No… she's not sick. But it's not a she."

"What do you mean, Wayamad?"

"Look for yourself." And she turned the child towards the worn out mother.

It was no girl. It was a boy. The first in one hundred years.

"My… my gods!" She said.

"You know what I think?"

"What do you think?"

"I think he looks like a Ganondorf." Said Nurse Wayamad smugly.

The mother took hold of the baby, and cradled it in her arms, and he fell sound asleep.

"Yes… little Ganon." Said Marget.

The baby sighed and continued his peaceful sleep. Little did he know he was to rule the desert, and the Gerudo.


	3. Chapter 2: The Castle

Chapter Two: The Castle.

Ganondorf inspected the way of Hyrule's castle with Nabooru, his right hand woman. The way was badly damaged by the hooves of the horses, and the blood of the Hyrule guard still covered the planes. One had somehow managed to get shoved down the top of a tree, his blood colouring the leaves. The bodies were being dragged off and thrown into the Hyrule River. Ganondorf wanted to make it clear to all, including the Zora. Hyrule had fallen.

"What do you want us to do with the field?" Said Nabooru. She was actually enjoying begin surrounded by the nature. She had spent almost her whole life around sand, and she loved the feeling of grass under her feet.

Ganondorf picked some grass out of the ground, and filed it through his fingers. Still wet, either by the blood of the Hyrulian or the rain.

"Burn it." He said bluntly.

Nabooru turned to him in shock. "What? Burn it all?" She said.

"All of it. I don't want a single tree stump left." He said.

"But why… Because the horses have destroyed the land, or the blood has tainted the grass?" She said hopefully.

"No…" Said Ganondorf. "So it will die."

"But sir, what will that achieve? The land is what we came for, without it…" She said, she almost felt like crying.

"Are you disobeying an order, Nabooru?" Said Ganondorf as he turned around to the castle.

"No… sir. Where are you going?"

"To think," said Ganondorf.

* * *

After he was born, Ganondorf and his mother were moved directly into the royal complex of the Gerudo. Ganondorf was meant to lead the Gerudo, so he was to be raised like a prince. He was given the best treatment, the most proper lessons, the most prestigious clothes, and he was only 5 years old.

But little Ganondorf didn't feel like a prince. He often was found in his ordinary black shirt and pants, going off with his wooden sword to play 'Hero' with the girls. Most of the women of the castle were concerned with him always liking to run off with the girls, afraid that he wasn't going to be quite 'man' enough. But then, they convinced themselves that a Gerudo was as 'man' as any man.

Ganondorf pulled on his shirt and his pants, and then struggled trying to put on his boots while running out of the door, tripping over almost a dozen times. He ran through the hall of the complex, grabbing his sword on the way, then slowed down as he approached his mother's door. He had to be very quiet to sneak past without her noticing. He tip-toed his way along the corridor, looking in very carefully to make sure his mother wasn't looking, otherwise he'd have to make a run for it. Then he bumped into something, and he looked down at the shoes she was wearing. Very much like the shoes his mother wore. He then slowly tilted his head backwards to look at who he had bumped into. It was Marget.

"And where are you heading off to at this hour of the morning, Ganondorf?" She said. Ganondorf knew he was in trouble. She only said his full name when he was in serious trouble.

"Ummm, just… over there." He said, trying to not look terrified. You'd think that somebody raised around women his whole life, and that he was destined to be the king of the entire desert wouldn't be afraid of his mother. You'd also think he'd be allowed to go where he wanted.

"Your class room is back that way." Said Marget as he pointed back past Ganondorf's room.

"Yeah… but I'm sure I saw Uburo go that way." Said Ganondorf, looking past his mother's legs. He could see the staircase, if he could make it down that, he'd be able to get into the desert and play with the girls.

"Then she must be getting something for your class, I suggest you go back and wait for her there."

"Awww, but mother…" He said.

"Now, Ganon, I know you want to play with your friends, but right now Uburo is expecting you to be at her class."

Ganondorf decided, what the hell, you only live once, and who needed math? He began to run for the stairs, and jumped on the banister, and slid down it, hoping to go straight through the door and be able to run off, only coming back at night… for dinner. He should have planned ahead a little better, such as making sure that the complex door was open. It wasn't.

Ganondorf hit into the door at full speed, and it felt like his scalp had split in two, luckily for him, it wasn't when he checked it. Being the tough 5 year old he was he continued to make his great escape.

The children had a special place to play, away from the mothers who wanted them to study. The irony is that their mothers probably used it for the same purpose. It was a remote oasis about 1 km from the Desert Fortress. This was where the girls would play and sometimes fight, just for fun. And for the first time in 100 years, there was a boy to play with.

Ganondorf came running holding his head; he was even beginning to feel as though he could handle maths over this.

"Hey, it's Ganon! Hi Ganon!" Yelled one of the girls. Only two of them were there, but they were Ganondorf's best friends. 5 years older then him, they were the twin daughters of Nurse Wayamad, Geta and Reeta. They often argued over rather foolish things, and they often had conversations which Ganondorf had trouble understanding, but they were still fun to be with.

"Hey there Ganon, what took you so long?" Said Reeta.

"I had to escape from my mother." Said Ganon.

"Oh boy, you're going to cop it when you get home!" Said Geta. The only way to tell the difference between the two was that one used blue makeup, and the other red, and the same for their clothes.

"I know, but I should make the most of it while I'm out here." Said Ganondorf. "What are you playing?"

"Well, we were playing hop scotch, but now you're here, I think we'll play…" And Geta poked Ganondorf in the stomach "tag! You're it!"

* * *

Ganondorf stood on the balcony of the former king's room as the heat rose from the way, the entire field glowing a raging red. Trees fell and made sparks jump up to the castle, which burned away the vines climbing it. The flames seemed to chase each other. To catch themselves. Ganondorf tried to forget.


	4. Chapter 3: Nabooru

Chapter 3: Nabooru

Ganondorf sat in the king's room, hunched over the desk, working. The door crept open, and Nabooru walked inside.

"Sir, I just had to report that Zelda's care taker has apparently been sighted in Ka…" She said then stopped, as she saw what Ganondorf was doing. Mending his cape.

"Sir, you never told me you could sew."

"There are some things that everyone should know. And sewing comes in handy." He said as began to stitch it back to his tunic. He held several pins in his mouth, and delicately attached the seam to the tunic's collar. If you didn't know him already, thought Nabooru, he could pass off as a tailor.

"Do you have something against it, Nabooru?" Said Ganondorf.

She walked up to Ganondorf and put her hand on his shoulder. "Of course not Ganie, I think it's sweet."

"Don't call me that. My name is Ganondorf, not Ganie." He said harshly.

"… Sir, yes sir… Ganondorf." She said, backing away.

"Now leave me be. I have to concentrate." He said.

"Yes Sir." She said, and then said 'Ganie" quietly under her breath.

Ganondorf heard, and he almost let a smile escape. He then closed his eyes and tried not to let the past haunt him.

* * *

Ganondorf was out the front of Nurse Wayamad's house with Reeta and Geta.

He was six years old at this time, a little bit wiser than he was at 5 he thought, but he still had trouble with realising what Reeta and Geta were saying.

"It's going to be a red head, like the rest of us!" Said Reeta.

"No, it's gonna be blonde, like mother!" Said Geta.

"Is not!" Said Reeta.

"Is too!" Said Geta.

"Is not!" Said Reeta.

"I think it's going to be a redhead." Said Ganondorf.

"Like you'd know!" Said Reeta. It seems that she had forgotten that she was the one who originally thought it'd be a redhead.

Unlike the usual way of things, with Wayamad helping a woman give birth, this time it was Marget, Ganondorf's mother, helping Wayamad. Her third daughter was being born.

"But you said it was going to be a redhead first!" Said Ganondorf, feeling more so confused then usual.

"Did not!" She said.

"Yes you did!" Said Geta.

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

This went on for another 2 hours, Ganondorf just turning his head the whole time to look at the one saying 'Did!' or 'Didn't!'

Then Marget stuck her head out side of the hovel's door.

"Girls, Ganon, it's done." She said.

They all walked inside, and Wayamad was in bed, holding a little girl, with small red locks of hair.

"Told ya." Reeta said to her sister, again forgetting that she was before opposing the idea of it.

"So kids, what shall we name her?" Said Wayamad.

"Robuto!" Said Reeta. This meant 'Annoying.'

"Turota!" Said Geta. This meant 'Stupid.'

"Girls, behave yourselves around her!" Said Wayamad, she then turned her head to Ganondorf. "Ganondorf, what do you think we should call her?"

Ganondorf walked up to her, and saw her sleeping, sucking her thumb. He looked around her, just to see what she looked like, and then he pointed and said 'Nabooru' which meant 'My star.'

Marget and Wayamad smiled and Wayamad said 'That's a perfect name Ganondorf. Nabooru…" She said.

Nabooru yawned and fell asleep.

* * *

Ganondorf was like most of the children his age, despite them all being girls. He skipped most of his classes, like Maths, History, Manners (although these lessons were often given by his mother regardless) and languages (the only one being taught however was old Gerudo, unlike how they spoke Hyrulian today). However, like all children, there were certain classes which he loved to attend. Two of these were combat lessons, and horseback riding. It was rare for any child to miss these classes on purpose. But strangely enough, Ganondorf also seemed to love music. He wouldn't miss any of his instrumental classes for anything. He loved to listen to the various pieces done by all the people across the world, music was one place where the Gerudo were not picky about, as any music was everyone's music. Ganondorf also loved to play music. He tried the flute, but he couldn't get his fingers to move gracefully enough to play properly. He attempted the fiddle, but the best he could do was a few squeaks and scratches. However, he loved the organ more then any other instrument. He seemed gifted with it. He could play all the chords, in tune and with grace. Ubae, the music teacher, was sure that he would grow up to be a great musician with the organ. He even played to the other children, most of which loved it. It even gave Reeta and Geta whole new things to argue about ('I think that 'The Cucco's Crow' is the best song!' 'No, it's 'Harmony of the Seven'!').

But the one who loved Ganondorf's playing more then anyone was Nabooru. She seemed to love every note; she would even dance, although the grace of a two year old is often shaky, and not particularly impressive. Ganondorf would spend nights reading about what other pieces he could play, digging into the deepest shelves of the library to find them, then he found one particular book which caught his interest.

"Songs of Time." It said on it.

He practised the pieces often, and even memorised several. He would play to all the people of the Fortress, all of them listening with interest. He truly could do magic with his fingers. Then he decided to write a piece of his own. He began missing other classes altogether so he could learn about these pieces. Then he completed it.

Most of the fortress came to the hall, to hear him play his very first own piece.

He played more gracefully then any other time before, so sweetly then some had no chance but to cry.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Said Marget to Troto, the history teacher.

"... Yes, it is." She said, fixated on the song.

"I wonder what ever he shall call it?"

"It already has a name," Said Troto.

"What? How can you already know its name?" Said Marget.

"Because I've heard it before. It's called… The Song of Time."


	5. Chapter 4: The Triforce

Chapter Four: The Triforce

The Great King Ganondorf was walking outside the temple of time.

He didn't care what others called him, what they said of him. This was still a sacred place to him. It was here that more citizens of Hyrule died on that night, merely two weeks ago. They tried to claim sanctuary. They wanted to live. Ganondorf noticed a skull close to him. It was a child's. He picked it up and saw how mangled it was, he could barely imagine what the skin looked like. He threw the skull away. The dead did not bother him anymore. He walked inside the temple. Many died inside, as well as outside it, but the tiles of the temple were still as white as when he saw the boy disappear in the light… right beside the Master Sword.

He walked towards the sword; there it was, with the light beaming onto it. He gripped the hilt, and tried to pull it out. It wouldn't budge.

"Humph, worthless blade," he said, but still, he wanted to know what happened to the boy.

He kicked the sword, which did not react in the least, and before turning to leave the temple, he looked at the Triforce picture in the stained glass window above it…

* * *

Ganondorf was made to attend a 'very important' history lesson after he preformed his new piece.

"Ganondorf, where did you see that song?" Said Ms. Troto.

"I haven't seen it anywhere… I made it myself." He said.

Troto turned around to Marget, and shook her head.

"Listen, Ganondorf, it's dangerous if you play that song… it's… not safe." Said Troto.

"Why? Everyone loved it, they thought it was good…" He said.

"No, no, Ganondorf, it was lovely, really, it's just that, outside the fortress, it could attract… the wrong people." She said.

"Why? What does it do?" He said, he felt like crying. He worked so long on this piece, and now he was told he can't play it anymore, just because it may set off some bad ideas.

"Listen, Ganondorf, before I came here, to live with my other sisters as a Gerudo, I used to work in a castle. A castle across a great field, named 'Hyrule.' I taught the princes and princesses there, all about the history of the lands. One very important part of their education was learning of a sacred artefact named… The Triforce.' Troto said, very sternly, like she was afraid of saying it out loud.

She should have been.

"It's a very powerful item, composed of three golden triangles, and allows who ever should touch it their own wish. It was the royal family's symbol, and the thing that would give you access to it, along with three sacred talismans, owned by one of the three other species of this world, the Kokiri, the Zora and the Gorons, was that song, The Song of Time! I only heard it once, but it was that song! You can't play it out side the fortress, or with anyone else here! It could start a war! It could kill us all!" She was breathing heavily, and poor little Ganondorf curled up in the chair, scared out of his wits. He didn't want this. He wanted to make a song. Not to kill anyone.

"Ganondorf, I know it's hard, but Troto is telling the truth! Please, for my sake, don't ever play that song again." Said Marget.

"O-Okay mother… for you." Said Ganondorf.

* * *

A week passed, and nothing more was said about the song. But people noticed differences in the young Ganondorf, he trained more, he was more active outdoors, and the most alarming of all, he hadn't even touched the organ since then. He had taken up horse riding as much more of a favourite subject, but the teachers and Marget were still concerned about him.

"I think that we should get him a special tutor." Said Troto.

"What do you mean?" Said Uburo, the maths teacher.

"I think we should get someone who she, sorry,' she said, as she stumbled on force of habit, 'he can relate to."

"Who do you have in mind?" Said Marget.

"Well, my sister just got married to a Hyrulian, and she told me about a sage he knows would get along with Ganondorf so well!"

"Well, that sounds nice. Do you think she'll come?" Said Kratea, the languages teacher.

"That's another thing… it's a man." Troto said mildly.

"What, you want to bring a man into the fortress? Are you mad?! What about the young girls that don't know any better?" Said Ubae, the music teacher.

"Ubae, he's a Sage Priest, he can't have children, it's against his religion." Said Troto.

"That's a fairly silly way to live, not having children because his god won't allow it? I don't see the point." Said Ubae.

"I thought that you didn't like the idea of having those intentions in the first place?" Said Troto.

The room was forgivingly silent.

"Well, despite it all, I think it's a good idea, Ganondorf deserves to talk to another man at least once before he becomes king, I mean, who ever heard of a king raised sorely by women?" Said Marget.

All the other women in the circle turned to Troto, who usually brought up one name or another in any situation, and you couldn't even be sure if she was just making it up.

"I don't know of any." She said. "Not even our own past kings."

And it was arranged, the sage was to come to meet Ganondorf within the year.

* * *

Meanwhile, the children were having problems of their own…

"Why don't you play for us anymore Ganondorf?" Said Reeta.

"Yeah, you did it wonderful last time, why did you stop?" Said Geta.

Ganondorf was silent. He didn't know what to say. These were his best friends, can't he tell them?

"I… just got tired of it… I'd rather be outside." Said Ganondorf

"That's not what we think you think." Said Reeta and Geta in harmony. They did this often, it tended to pull the truth out of liars, and make people who told the truth tell something that was more uplifting.

"I'm telling the truth… I swear, stop staring at me!" Said Ganondorf, nervous as nothing else. He didn't want to say anything to make anyone as worried as Marget.

The girls were silent. They turned to face each other, winked, and looked back at Ganondorf.

"Nabooru would like it if you played again." Said Geta.

"Yeah, she really misses it, she says she's gonna stop talking to you." Said Teeta.

Ganondorf didn't say anything.

"She says she doesn't love you anymore."

Ganondorf broke out in something that could be called a blush.

"That's an awful lot for someone who can hardly talk to say." He said.

"Well, she did." Said Reeta.

"Ganon…" Said a voice from behind them.

Ganondorf quickly turned around. It was Meriane, the riding teacher.

"Ganondorf, come with me, I have a surprise for you."

She walked off, and Ganondorf quickly followed. This left Reeta and Geta standing alone, wondering if they should follow.


	6. Chapter 5: The Warhorse and the Sage

Chapter Five: The Warhorse and the Sage

The Great King Ganondorf sat in the stables with his horse. It was rare that you'd ever find Ganondorf, king of the Gerudo, dictator of Hyrule and most powerful man in all the lands, in the hay like a common farmboy, but this made him feel… safe. While he was the safest man in Hyrule regardless, it did make him feel as though nothing could harm him here. His horse walked over to him, and nudged against his arm. He patted its face.

"You've always been good to me…" Said Ganondorf, without raising his head.

Images of the past flashed before him, and shouted to him, forcing him to remember.

"Always…"

* * *

He walked quickly alongside Meriane. He tried to keep up the pace, but she had much longer legs then him. Ganondorf noticed that they were heading in the direction of the stables.

"What are you going to show me?" Said Ganondorf.

"You'll see Ganon." Said Meriane. She used to refer to Ganondorf as 'Sire', because she had always been told that was the way to address royalty, but when she realised how kind and naive Ganondorf was, she had decided it was okay to speak to him by name.

They reached the stable doors. They were big and made of hard oak, a rare wood within the Gerudo Fortress, but this was because of how much the Gerudo valued their horses. After generations in the desert, a Gerudo woman born 200 years ago ventured out of the desert, and when she came back, she brought with her five horses. These beasts originally confused the Gerudo, as their size, strength and speed was easily above that of a human, yet they didn't run, they seemed to enjoy their company. So the Gerudo began to rely and train these creatures, and soon each Gerudo had a horse of their own, and the animals have been valued by the Gerudo ever since.

Meriane opened the doors and led Ganondorf inside the stable, to the last furthermost stall. This was Mertey, the chief war leader of the Gerudo's horse's pen. Ganondorf wandered in, and noticed something laying down next to the horse. It was like a smaller, darker version of Mertey's horse. Meriane looked upon Ganondorf as he stared straight at the little animal.

"It's a foal, you know, Ganondorf." She said.

Ganondorf walked up to it and patted it on the head. It seemed to like it.

"Mertey's horse gave birth 2 weeks ago, and this is her child. Mertey and I have decided to give it to you, Ganondorf."

Ganondorf turned around and stared dumbstruck at Meriane.

"Really? Do you really mean it?" He said.

She nodded, and a smile seeped across her face. It was almost contagious too, as only a second afterwards the exact same smile came across Ganondorf's face. Ganondorf ran up to Meriane and hugged her around the legs.

"Thank you, thank you so much." Said Ganondorf.

"Don't mention it Ganon, with all the interest you've been investing in riding, you deserve him." She replied.

Ganondorf looked up and stared straight into her face.

"What's his name?" He said.

"Whatever you want it to be."

* * *

Over the coming weeks Ganondorf spent lots of time with the young foal. They grew to bond, like many Gerudo and their horses, and the horse began to recognise Ganondorf as his partner. But, Ganondorf, sometimes lacking imagination that at other times he was bursting with, could not think of a name. Nabooru, who had decided to speak to Ganondorf again, apparently, had lots of ideas.

"Starshine?" She said.

"No, that's too soft, I want people to know this horse when they hear of it."

"Beater?"

"Too rough, I want them to know his elegance."

"Clancy?" She said.

Ganondorf turned around and looked at her with a smirk.

"Well, you don't seem to like any of the serious names I suggest." She said.

"That's because nothing is good enough for this horse! It's too perfect for a name!"

Nabooru stared blankly for a minute.

"Natasusemo?" This was old Gerudo for 'Too perfect for a name.' Despite her age, Nabooru seemed to have an incredible ability with languages. Almost nothing was out of her reach, and she was already the most promising Gerudo for the next teacher of languages. Ganondorf closed his eyes and thought for a minute. It did sound good, and it did describe him in his best light.

"I think it sounds like a good name." Said a voice behind the two of them.

They both turned around and saw a very big person. They hadn't seen this person before, and it was dressed in odd clothes. It looked like it had a purple tablecloth wrapped around its shoulders, over his also purple shirt and pants, with long red hair framing its head, covered by a wide brimmed purple hat. As it leant down closer to Ganondorf he noticed that this person didn't look like the other women. She appeared to have hair on her chin, and the face was different, but he thought he'd seen something like it before…

"You must be Ganondorf." He said.

"Uh, yeah, that's me…" Responded the boy.

"Then you're the one I'm looking for. My name is Remaln. I'm going to be your tutor." He said. Ganondorf at this point realised that the thing that made him look different from the other women and familiar to him was because he wasn't a woman. He was a man, just like him.

The only male of the Gerudo had met the first man he ever knew.


	7. Chapter 6: The Bull

Chapter Six: The Bull

The Great King Ganondorf walked on Hyrule fields.

It was odd to see someone walking on the Hyrule fields, as people mostly just used horses to pass through it. And the strangest thing was that this man had the greatest of all the horses in Hyrule, but he still chooses to walk. It helped him think. And while he had a lot to think about, most of it he would rather banish from his mind. His sword rested safely by his side, gently bumping into his leg. It had taken many lives, but it's first been one that truly was unforgettable. Still, Ganondorf struggled to forget.

* * *

Ganondorf sat at the dinner table with Remaln. Remaln seemed like a very kind man, very happy to hear whatever Ganondorf had to say, he was like most of the women of the fortress, only, not a woman. The only noticeable differences between him and a woman was that he had larger shoulders and smaller hips, but his skin also seemed… different.

"You… look different from the other people." Said Ganondorf, his voice shaking. He wasn't sure if this was an impolite question to ask, after all, all Gerudo looked relatively the same. Remaln put his wine glass onto the table.

"That's because I'm from Hyrule, Ganon. I don't come from here."

Ganondorf tried to take this all in. Only two sentences had managed to baffle him. He had heard of this Hyrule before, when he was told about his song.

"Not from here? Where else is there then?" He said.

Remaln paused. Now he was the one who was baffled. Well, not so much baffled, but more shocked. How could this boy, a prince let alone, not know of Hyrule?

"Uh, well, Ganondorf, Hyrule is… Hyrule is…" He was lost for words, and it was rare that a priest, not to mention a sage priest, was lost for words. "Hyrule is gigantic, that's what it is. It's so, green, and beautiful, with the mountains towering over the fields, and the Hyrule River channelling through it. It's a nice place, I hope to take you there one day." He said. There was something about the way he said 'you', it was like he didn't mean him. Ganondorf sat wondering to himself, a million questions rushing through his brain all at the same time, but one seemed to stick out above them all.

"Why is it green?" He said.

Remaln choked on his wine as he quickly leant forward.

"You don't know what grass is?" He spluttered, in-between coughing up wine back into its glass.

"Oh, I know what grass is, but hardly any of it is green, most of it's yellow, and dried up and hard. The only place that has green grass is right by the oasis." Ganondorf seemed so innocent thought Remaln. Was he really cut out to lead a whole people?

"Well, almost all the grass in Hyrule is like that, it covers all the plains, and it's always a lovely, soft green."

Ganondorf tried to imagine it. A land larger than the fortress, that was one giant oasis. Marget came in with dinner.

* * *

It was several years later. Remaln never left Ganondorf's side; he was acting like a true friend. Ganondorf had just turned twelve years old. All the children were warned of a bull seen around the oasis. Bulls were commonly known to charge at the colour red, and in a community where red hair was genetic; it was best to acknowledge such warnings. However, if you're a pair of twins who love trouble, then such rules didn't apply to you.

"Come on Ganondorf, you know you want to come!" Said Reeta.

"Yeah, it's not like it's really dangerous or anything! We'll be able to outrun any stupid old bull! We're the Gerudo!" They said, and then raised their hands in an impressive pose. Ganondorf just stared for a while then blinked.

"But, our mothers said that it was a really big one, really, ummm, that word they used."

"Territorial?" Said Reeta.

"Yeah, and that sounds like it's mean."

"Oh, come on Ganon! Nabooru's coming with us! Aren't you?"

Ganondorf turned around to the small figure sitting in the corner, which nodded innocently. Nabooru had this strange habit of always surrendering to her sisters if they even hinted Ganondorf would be coming along. Ganon lay down to think about this. On one hand, he has his best friends and fun combined with a huge risk of being impaled with a horn from a bull, or he could listen to his mother and go to history. There was no competition.

A child's planning to escape from a castle left a lot to desire. First of all, they would escape to the Oasis under the cover of daylight, running as fast as they can and giggling loudly. Ganondorf had to randomly remove his boots while running to get the sand out of them. Strangely enough, it seemed to have worked, they had escaped to the Oasis with seemingly no one seeing. Or they didn't see anyone watching.

The four small children almost collapsed at the water. It was tiring work, running outside, to play, and get tired all over again, then run home getting tired again without anyone seeing. The children then started to play, running around the oasis. The basis of the game was to run around the almost perfectly round oasis, trying to push someone else in while avoiding being pushed in yourself. This was actually where most Gerudo children learned to swim, the parents not really teaching them it. Swimming was hardly essential in a desert. Remaln, under the over of a nearby dune, looked silently over at the children, studying how Ganondorf acted. He had been told by the Teachers not to let Ganondorf out of his site, and he wasn't planning to. It was getting to be midday, the sun began beaming down at its highest intensity. No one seemed to notice the large figure moving towards the oasis until it was there.

Remaln jumped up from the cover of his dune and shouted "Look out! It's the bull! It's coming!"

The four children were shocked at this, more surprised at the fact that he had been following them, other than the fact that the bull was coming. They didn't waste any time panicking when they saw it.

"Quickly, up the trees!" Shouted Reeta, who was the most scared of them all, as she was wearing the red makeup and clothes. Reeta and Geta quickly scurried up the trees, and Ganondorf kind of pulled himself up it like an incredibly thick rope. Remaln was running back towards the fortress.

"I'll get you help! Don't worry!" He yelled.

The bull didn't take any notice of him. The bull wouldn't have taken any notice of anyone if they didn't cry. Ganon, Reeta and Geta looked in the direction of the crying. It was Nabooru, bawling her eyes out of fear of the bull. The bull didn't take kindly to it. Ganondorf quickly realised that she couldn't climb trees yet, too small and a serious lack of upper body strength. The bull threw its horns in the direction of Nabooru and charged at her.

"Nabooru!" Screamed Ganondorf as he jumped off the tree in front of Nabooru. The bull kept coming. Ganondorf quickly picked up the cowering Nabooru, and quickly ran towards the tree he was previously on, and pushed a Nabooru up into the branches. Well, by push I mean jump up as high as he could and hope that she would grab onto the leaves. Ganondorf was just about to follow, when he was thrown across the oasis. His limp body skimmed the water on the oasis, and left him a bleeding wet mess on the other side. The bull kept coming.

Ganondorf struggled to stand up. His legs felt like they'd been run over by a castle on wheels. He dragged his head up to face forward. He saw the last thing he wanted to.

He was thrown back again, across the sand, scraping his skin against it. The sand was covered in his blood. He didn't feel as if he had the energy to look back up. He felt something hard beneath the sand. It was steaming in the desert sun.

He heard someone yell.

"Over there!" Said the voice. It was Remaln. There wasn't anyone else with a voice as deep as him in the Gerudo valley.

"Don't worry!" Yelled another voice, which was then followed by horse footsteps moving through the sands. It was Mertey, the war leader. She was coming to help them. Ganondorf pushed his head to face forwards. There were several dunes in his way, but he could make out the bull, and a light brown horse with a rider in white heading for it. A spear seemed to stick into the sand, and there was a gigantic snort of rage from the bull. The bull thrust its head out, and then the horse was thrown into the air and hit the sand. The rider got up. She was struggling. And alone, no other riders came. There mustn't have been enough time to get them all together. Mertey stood up, and faced her spear towards the bull, and charged it. The bull wasted no time, quickly faced her, and launched itself. The horn would have hit like a bullet.

* * *

She was thrown through the air, and drifted along the sand and stopped facing Ganondorf. He stared at Mertey, her eyes blank and quiet. There was a slight tinkle of blood spilling from her mouth. Ganon looked at her waist. The bull's horn had pierced straight through it. She gasped for a last time, and then lay still. This was the first time Ganondorf saw death. 'Is this what it is?' thought the terrified Ganon. He struggled to move his hand to touch her arm. She acted like a stone. It was horrible. He couldn't imagine why this should happen to people. And the bull did this. How could something do this to anything? Taking life before it had ended. You can't do this to anything. Any_one_.

He looked up at the bull. Remaln was standing still, staring with calm eyes at the bull. He was acting like he hadn't even seen what happened to Mertey. The bull… that's what did that to her. That's what caused it. That's what killed her.

The bull charged towards the trees, and began to ram the one Nabooru was on. She clang on for dear life, but she was still slipping. Her legs that were wrapped around the tree came loose, and she was flailing them wildly.

Would the bull do what to Nabooru what it had done to Mertey? Would it dare? She didn't do anything, just cried. How could it think like that? That it could kill for nothing? For nothing!?

The hard metal thing that Ganondorf felt on the sands seemed to call out to him. Grab me. Hold me. Use me, it said. His hand found its way down into the sand, and grabbed onto something like a handle.

He quickly stood up holding the object, as if he had just received a huge boost of energy from nothing. The sand that was around the tool exploded away, revealing the sword. It was large and coloured brown, and its tip was like that of an axe, and it was easily twice the size of Ganondorf. He didn't notice its weight. He gripped it with both hands. It should have been sending him down face first into the sand, but it was almost light. Like a feather of its equivalent size.

He took a step.

He didn't feel any pain. His small, fragile body had been pushed to its limits, but he didn't seem to notice. He ran towards the bull as it was ramming Nabooru's tree. He leapt into the air, and cut off its horn that had pierced Mertey. The sword should have shattered. The bull then took a step back from the tree, and shook its head in a frustrated manner, then turned its attention towards Ganondorf, facing the bull, staring at him with cold eyes. The bull charged at him, but Ganondorf jumped up. He jumped almost six feet, more then any normal human would be able to manage after years of training, and landed on the bull's back. His feet somehow kept with position on its back, even once the bull screamed to a halt and began bucking its hind legs into the air. Then Ganondorf raised the sword above his head, and thrust it into the bull's back. The bull screamed with rage, then Ganondorf began to pull the sword backwards along its spine. He got to the end and the bull fell apart. Literally.

Its two sides fell apart from each other, and Ganondorf fell down the slice he had made in its back. He was covered in its blood, and the two sides rested in the sands on each side of him. Ganondorf seemed to then wake up, and frantically looked around him, and saw the sword in his hands. Covered in the blood that now surrounded him, he dropped the sword, then fell to his knees and cried. Reeta and Geta jumped off their trees, and Reeta ran over to Ganondorf while Geta helped Nabooru down. She was crying and afraid of the bull. She ran screaming into the fortress when she saw what happened to it. The other Gerudo guards then came over the horizon, with Wayamad and Marget tailing along. Wayamad had Nabooru in running after her, holding onto her dress, crying. She then received and hugged Reeta and Geta. Marget ran through the bull's body and grabbed her son and hugged her as he cried into her shoulder. Remaln stood watching the whole time, then turned to go back to the fortress.

"There is great power within that boy." He said to himself, and began to walk back to the fortress.

* * *

Ganondorf had reached the Gerudo fortress by the afternoon. He demanded to be alone, and that no one was to see what he was going to do. He walked towards the Oasis, and stared into his reflection. This was the same person as the boy who had done that to the bull. He withdrew his sword, and threw it into the water, which then sunk to the bottom, and rested in the sand. Ganondorf turned to go back to the fortress, then after his first three steps, fell to his knees and cried. He covered his eyes, and fought the tears, but they would not stop. He did not return until the middle of the night.


	8. Chapter 7: Death

Chapter Seven: Death

The great king Ganondorf sat alone in his room, back to the door.

It was not his room, the king's room in Hyrule castle, but it was instead his bedroom he grew up in as a child. He was in no mood to talk. For the first time in years, he welcomed his memories. He felt alone. Surrounded, yet alone, with no one to talk to, no one to cry on. He was alone with everyone, in his memories…

* * *

The young prince Ganondorf sat alone in his room, curled up with his back to the door. He was still covered in the blood of the bull. Nobody was fast enough to wash a body that was crying madly and running towards his room. He wept into his pillow. Only Marget dared to come in, but she couldn't help him; he truly wished to be alone. But outside the room, life was still going on.

"What do you want to do?" Said a distressed Marget. She span around and dropped several plates at her feet.

"I'd like to see Ganon." Said Remaln.

"You know the condition Ganondorf is in! You saw what he did! He says that he has to be alone so I'm trusting him!"

"What if I said I could help him?" Remaln said calmly.

Marget began to reply, then stopped in her tracks.

"Trust me." He said. Marget stepped aside.

"Please, go away." Said Ganondorf, without bothering to turn around.

"That was an impressive show you made before Ganondorf." Said Remaln, appearing to not notice what Ganon had just told him.

"I asked you to go away." Ganondorf was beginning to feel frustrated towards Remaln.

Remaln chuckled slightly under his breath. "You still just ask people, don't you? You could have an entire kingdom at your disposal, yet you still don't want to use it, do you?"

Ganondorf remained silent.  
"I suppose that it all makes sense really. You're far too meek to understand the full potential of the power that lies at your very finger tips. There have been kings throughout history that just click their fingers and have a man killed." Ganondorf curled up tighter at the sound of the word, "But you'd never do that, would you?"

Ganondorf remained silent.

"I thought so."

Remaln got to his feet, stretched his back, and took a painting off the wall. Ganondorf already knew what it was. Miss Troto had given it to him for his tenth birthday. It was a picture of three women, one blue, one green and one red surrounding three golden triangles. Troto seemed very wary about the portrait.

"Do you know what this is a picture of Ganondorf?" Remaln said calmly. He didn't take his eyes off the triangles.

Ganondorf remained silent.

"I didn't think you would. Its story doesn't hold much ground in the desert."

Remaln walked slowly back towards Ganondorf. He sat back down on his chair, and seemed to drift off into his own world, negligent of the young prince.

"It's what my entire faith follows. It's amazing when I think about it, that we can all live so close together yet be so different. Eons ago, three goddesses shaped the Earth, they created life and faith and all that we hold dear. But before leaving, they invested upon us something that could tempt even the most noble soul…" Remaln turned the frame to face Ganondorf, and closed off the images of the Goddesses with his fingers, exposing the triangles to the highest of focal points. "The Triforce…"

Ganondorf shoot up like a bottle rocket. His back instantly pointed up at the ceiling. Triforce was the last thing he was suspecting to hear.

"I see I've got your attention now. All ears respond to the majesty of the words of Triforce." Remaln leant back in his chair, acting as though he had told this story a thousand times, and heard it a million. And that was probably accurate. "The Triforce, named because of its three golden triangles, can grant one wish to whomever touches it. To grant wealth, strength, power, destruction… even the greatest gift of all."

Ganondorf leant closer to Remaln.  
"And what's the greatest gift of all?" Ganondorf said, trembling his lips.

Remaln looked towards the ceiling, as if it contained the wisdom he was about to endow. "True Peace…" His eyes were stern yet kind when he said this, as if he wanted all to fear the words yet love them with all his heart.

"What does… true peace mean?"

Remaln straightened his back, but continued staring at the ceiling. "A world where all peoples, beasts and lands get along, where there will be no more war, no more disagreement, no more," Remaln did not pause, but when his lips opened to say this the entire galaxy seemed to be sucked towards Ganondorf and burst back out to create a whole new world, "killing."

Ganondorf slowly moved his legs, which had seemed to become heavy yet all the more mobile, and forced them over the side of the bed as he listened to Remaln.

"So why don't people just use it?" Innocently asked Ganondorf.

This time it was Remaln that remained silent. His eyes seemed to peer into the ceiling.

"I mean, if they could do all these wonderful things with it, then why haven't they already used it?"

Remaln ended his intent stare at the ceiling and instead began to stare into the window. No matter where he directed his attention, it didn't appear to be towards Ganondorf.

"Because the goddesses locked the Triforce away from the world, inside the Temple of Time at Hyrule," the huge Oasis, thought Ganondorf, "until a hero, the Hero of Time, can uncover it and wish whatever he desires."

Ganondorf stared at Remaln, who was continuing his stare at the window.

"Why?"

Remaln then turned his attention towards the boy.

"What?"

"Why did the gods do that?" Ganondorf enquired. His mind seemed vacant of the bull. "Why would they make the world, and then hide away the best thing in it?" Ganondorf seemed so innocent. Remaln knew he couldn't know anything about it previously.

Remaln would be chocking on his wine if he had drank any. "You know what Ganondorf? I have no idea." Ganondorf would have felt proud, if he wasn't so curious. "All these years that I've worshipped the idea, and the prophecy that one day the Hero of Time will come to unleash the Triforce for the good of the world, but really, I've never thought of why the gods would hide it from the world when we need it so much. But you know what Ganondorf…" Remaln said calmly. "I think that one day, maybe you will get your chance to use the Triforce, for whatever your heart should wish."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

Remaln then stretched out his hand, and Ganondorf took it, as the young prince Ganondorf left his room into new hope, and new ideas.

* * *

The Great King Ganondorf left the room with the same ideas, but new prospect. The sandstone-crafted hallways surrounded him like the memories, and he approached the doors.

"Where are you going, Sir Ganondorf?"

"Home." The doors burst open without any effort of Ganondorf. And he left the fortress.


	9. Chapter 8: The Great Oasis

Chapter Eight: The Great Oasis

Ganondorf approached the bridge. It contained few of his childhood memories, but there were several so significant, that his whole life would be something not at all like it was now. The water swept quickly beneath the wooden steps. The water that had affected his whole life. He took the first step onto the wooden bridge that had spawned the Great King Ganondorf. The memories ran as the water did under his feet.

* * *

Ganondorf had aged. It had been six years since the incident with the bull, little was ever said on the matter afterwards, and beef had been forever banned from the fortress's dining room. Ganondorf was now sixteen years old, and Remaln still remained at the fortress, taking on as much as a guidance councillor type protector as he could. He had been demanded by the Gerudo teachers not to let him become a father figure. The Gerudo did not have fathers.

Ganondorf, instead of his old clothes, now wore a black tunic, with a white garment underneath, with black trousers and his, now old, leather boots. Boots were hard to come by, as the Fortress lacked a cobbler.

The fortress was rather empty for this time of the year. That being as much of summer time as you could have in the Gerudo desert, as no snow would fall in winter, no trees were in the area that could shed their leaves in autumn, and there was no grass to grow in spring. But you could remember it was summer time for a very particular reason.

Many Gerudo girls, teenagers included, two of them being Reeta and Geta, and a very small figure being Nabooru, were gathered around the Desert Bridge. Remaln scrambled up the rocks over the ridge to stand with Ganondorf, who was peering down at the girls from the top of the mound. Ganondorf was staring very intently at the girls, particularly at Nabooru. She seemed happy, but too happy in a way.

"What's going on down there? Everyone's left the fortress." Remaln said, with no desperation in his voice what so ever. He was disturbingly calm, as always.

"It's the sending. Everyone's been talking about it for weeks." Said Ganondorf, his gaze not drifting from Nabooru. "All the girls are going to Hyrule, the place you told me about, to go get boyfriends, and have… children." He almost cringed at the word.

"Ah, yes. Most boys are warned about the Gerudo coming over, but often their beauty comes as somewhat as a surprise." He tilted his head down and chuckled. "Even my brother has been a… victim of a Gerudo woman before. He's a married man now however."

Ganondorf had heard of marriage before. This was when a man and a woman decide to spend the rest of their lives together and not with anyone else. It seemed to be quite a boring life to Ganondorf. But there is a ring involved. Reeta and Geta seemed to love rings.

"This is Nabooru's first sending." Ganondorf said. His stare still didn't falter.

"Ah, I see." Remaln seemed to let his stare drift over everyone, and didn't appear to settle. He noted that the twins, Reta and Geeta, were wearing their best quality makeup. In other words, the stuff that didn't look like it had been taken off the ground and applied by a numb horse. "And you don't like it, do you Ganondorf?"

Ganondorf shook his head for a second, and turned to face Remaln.

"What does it matter?"

"Well, you're the prince, aren't you? You'd think that any girl would want a man like you."

This hadn't occurred to Ganondorf before. There weren't any other Gerudo males to compare his relationship status against, so he was really the most popular guy around. Although, he wasn't seeing anyone.

"Is it common for Gerudo boys to be married at your age?" Asked Remaln.

Ganondorf thought for a moment. "It isn't common for there to BE Gerudo boys in the first place."

Remaln chuckled under his breath for a moment. "Good point." Remaln then let his eyes gaze over the girls again. "Why is it that Gerudo women go to get pregnant? Why don't they ever try to settle down with a man?"

"Because then they wouldn't be a Gerudo anymore." Ganondorf was still fixed on Nabooru. "Gerudo women can get married, but then they aren't allowed to be Gerudo anymore, that's just giving up the cause."

Remaln looked back at Ganondorf. "And what is the cause of the Gerudo?"  
Ganondorf paused. It was strange how they never mentioned this anymore, but it was the reason why they were in the desert in the first place. "To prove that women are stronger than men. That's why we're here. Before my ancestors moved here, this desert was thought to be unliveable. And despite the hard living conditions, many of us still grew to be beautiful, but we couldn't keep going with only women, so that's when the sending started."

Remaln nodded his head as he took all this in. "Yes, but… what about their kings? Isn't it alright for them to get married?"

Ganondorf was yet again stumped. Strangely, despite the importance of the hundred-year king, little was said about their lives, just what they did, and there didn't appear to be too much to say. "I… suppose, since they are Gerudo…" The fact was the Gerudo didn't appear to believe in marriage as anything but leaving the cause.

"And who would you choose?"

Ganondorf's gaze immediately drifted to Nabooru's position. Remaln noted this. "I don't know…"

Ganondorf had little peer pressure when it came to girls, as his only peers were girls. He had no male friends, apart from Remaln, if he could so be called a friend, and thus nobody else was seeing anyone else. He didn't really know the method to saying that you like a girl, but from what Remaln had sometimes hinted, it somehow included flowers.

The first few girls were beginning to cross the bridge. Ganondorf had never actually set foot upon the bridge. He was in the Gerudo Fortress now, he was sure he needed nowhere else. This was the first time in fact that Ganondorf had attended the sending, although he had been tempted when Reeta and Geta had left for the first time, but he stayed behind with Nabooru and Remaln, who was attending the sending for the first time too.

Nabooru ran up the slight hill that Ganondorf and Remaln were standing on, above the crowd, and stopped in front of him. She seemed slightly tensed, but only slightly.

"Hi, Ganie…" She started. She had taken upon the habit of referring to Ganondorf as 'Ganie'. He thought it was too cute for him, but she seemed happier calling him this rather than Ganon, like everyone else.

"Nabooru…" Ganondorf strangled from his throat. His entire mouth had gone dry when she ran up to him. It was like he was expecting something, but he had no idea what it was.

"Uh, I just wanted to say goodbye, just before I left…" Nabooru said, staring cautiously at the ground. She was blinking repeatedly.

Ganondorf was trying to decipher if this was his turn to speak yet. Generally the saying of 'Goodbye' implied the separate use of the word goodbye.

"Uh… I'll miss you." Said Ganondorf. Nabooru quickly looked up at his face. Nabooru was rather short compared with Ganondorf, but most Gerudo were. Remaln was the only person who could directly return his stare.

Nabooru took a fast step forward and clasped Ganondorf's waist, and rested her head on him. Ganondorf was rather taken back by this. It was like a hug, but somehow felt to be more. She hadn't done this before, but he felt implied to put his arm around her.

"I'll miss you too." She said, and then let go. Ganondorf took this as a sign to let go as well.

Remaln mumbled something happily under his breath. 'Young love…'

Nabooru took a step backwards, and then ran down to the foot of the bridge. Reeta and Geta were almost across the bridge. Nabooru was the only one left to cross. Ganondorf watched as Nurse Wayamad gave Nabooru a hug, and she said something to her softly, and then Marget gave her a quick hug, then waved goodbye.

Nabooru took one step on the bridge. Ganondorf's stomach churned. With each succeeding step she took, he felt his stomach quench inside him more. A sudden gust of wind burst through the valley, and shook the bridge. Nabooru began to lose her footing, attempted to grasp to the ropes made to serve as railings, and then slipped.

* * *

Nabooru shrieked as she plummeted towards the rushing waters beneath.

All the Gerudo women stepped forward, and then stopped. They knew they could do nothing for her. Ganondorf seemed to be vacant of this knowledge, or completely ignored it.

"Nabooru!" He shouted as he run down the mound and towards the bridge.

He hardly took a look down. He could still see her. From the edge of the valley, he leapt. There wasn't even a pause between looking and jumping, but they combined into two parts of the same movement. Ganondorf spread his arms and held his legs together. For some reason, this felt correct. He hit the water face first, and came back up, the current quickly dragging him and Nabooru away from the bridge. Ganondorf struggled towards the floating girl, and as soon as he could reach, immediately took hold of Nabooru with one arm, and then realised what he was doing. He had never experienced current before, but it felt un-natural, and then he quickly kicked his legs. They weren't touching anything except water, yet he wasn't sinking. He wasn't wearing any armour, which he felt thankful for, because armour often weighed more then stones, and he knew what happened to stones in water. He straightened up his body, and then began pulling at the current, as it took him and Nabooru downstream…

* * *

Ganondorf woke up on what felt like home. Sand. Only it was wet sand. He lifted his head, and blinked twice. He had water in his eyes. He rubbed his arm against his face, and then lowered it. Nabooru was resting comfortably next to him, only she was laying still. Very still. Ganondorf turned her onto her back.

"Nabooru?" He said. She didn't respond. He then tried to remember what Nurse Wayamad had told them if someone fell into the Oasis and stopped breathing. Ganondorf began to push down on Nabooru's chest. Most men in the world would make a good time of doing this, but Ganondorf was far too worried to care. He opened her mouth, and then pushed down on her chest again. She began to spit some water. She then coughed, and opened her eyes weakly.

"Ganondorf… You came after me…" She said, then fainted.

"Nabooru?" Ganondorf went to grab her, but was distracted. He looked into the distance. There was a huge plane in front of him, like the desert, but made completely of water, with an area of land coming out of it. And looked frantically around it. It was more water than he had ever imagined, so much that you could hardly even see the bottom. Then he looked to his other side, and there was something which he had only dreamt about before. He moved his hand over to it, shaking slightly, and gasped onto the ground, and brought it back up to his face. It was exactly what Remaln had said. Grass, with soil that was not sand. It was had a brown texture, and was far harder than sand.

He looked all around him. There were no buildings around him. He was alone, but he got to his feet and walked slowly in a turn, taking it all in. A cliff that was made of rock overlooked the large body of water, but the ground there was been rid of the grass, and several large logs that didn't appear to come from any trees he knew around rested nearby. He was where Remaln had spoken of. It was the great Oasis, that was larger than the entire Gerudo Fortress.

Ganondorf then turned back to Nabooru quickly, and drew her up into his arms, and took a cautious step onto the 'grass'. He then began to steady his pace into walking, and then broke out into a run. He noticed his feet didn't sink into the ground, as it did with the sand. This ground was harder than him. He kept running, and went along a path, still in awe, but in a rush to get Nabooru back to the fortress. The sun was beginning to set. He noticed a turn off the path that seemed to turn into sand. That must be the way to the desert. After passing a gully with a small stream running beneath it, he saw the bridge again, and began to run across it, Nabooru still in his arms, back to the fortress.

* * *

The great king Ganondorf had finished crossing the bridge. This bridge that had introduced him into the world, into the great Oasis. Made him learn so much. Made him do so many things. Ganondorf turned and raised his hand into the air. Clouds gathered in the sky, and a lightning bolt came down and struck the bridge in the centre, but it did not burn. It remained there, only some ropes warn away from the force of the blow, as if to spite Ganondorf. He grudgingly turned his shoulder and spat into the stream beneath it, and began to walk yet again into the Great Oasis.


	10. Chapter 9: Magic

Chapter Nine: Magic

The Great King Ganondorf's hand still tingled at the sensation of bringing down the bolt of lightning. It always did that after manipulating the skies; it was something about the wind pushing against the clouds, as they became part of your very own body. It was cold. And a lightning bolt was never an easy thing to bring down upon the land. Whatever it did to what it hit, it felt as though it did it to him as well, but from the inside.

The castle was now in view. He would soon be in his home away from home. But there was no longer a first home to go back to.

* * *

Marget was watching out over the Fortress courtyard. Wayamad was still crying on the bed. They had a good view of the entrance. Few people crossed it during the afternoon, as the sun was truly laying down its weight upon the desert floor. Wayamad's crying continued, louder. Reeta and Geta still had to leave for the kingdom, despite their desperation to help find their sister; they were dragged away by the other girls to the city of Hyrule. The sending was a scared ritual, to leave it then would have been blasphemy. Wayamad was sure she had lost her youngest daughter. The walls slowly darkened around them, and the sun went to rest behind the hills. Marget continued to search the courtyard for anything. Anything that may wander in.

Wayamad dragged her tear soaked face from her pillow, her bottom lip trembling, and she could hardly open her eyes.  
"Can…" She chocked on the word. "Can you see them?"

Marget continued looking outside the window. "No."

Wayamad's head fell back upon the pillow, and muffled cries escaped the pillow.

"Don't worry…" Said Marget "They'll come back…" But even her voice was saturated with doubt.

Wayamad thrust her head up from the pillow. "No… No they won't!" Tears flew from her face and hit the ground like tiny meteors of sorrow as she walked over to Marget. "They won't! You saw them! They" her mouth cogged up with sorrow "fell!"

"No." Said Marget. She said it softly, yet it had that tone of loudness you only find in a voice that's purely committed. "They'll be back! You know it!"

"No they won't!" Wayamad's body flung wildly. "They won't they won't they-" then she was slapped. Marget's hand stayed in position in the air for a moment, then she brought it down to her side. Wayamad seemed to freeze, and brought her hand up to her red cheek, and fell onto Marget, and cried on her shoulder.

"I'm, I'm sorry Marget! I'm just so worried!" She sobbed.

Marget patted her lightly on the back. "It's okay Wayamad. We're all worried. But they'll be back, I know they will."

Wayamad nodded, then looked out the window. A figure carrying something moved slowly across the courtyard. Wayamad almost fainted.

* * *

Remaln stood at the door of the fortress. It was hard to tell what THE door of the fortress was, considering there were many on the ground level, but he had taken it into his priestly understanding that THIS was THE door, merely because it was the closest one to his room.

Well, he thought, quite an interesting development our Ganondorf is growing into. He didn't seem much at first. Quite a scatter brained young boy, with little sense of discipline, but now… First he kills a bull that even the greatest knights of Hyrule castle would have true trouble with, without much apparent difficulty, and despite that rather nasty bout of depression, he handled seeing a sight of such carnage quite well. Then, he found a way to question the Triforce prophecy, something I had always found to be quite watertight. Really, it's shocking what a boy can do if he's just innocent. And as for now… Goddesses know what he could achieve… perhaps it was worth heading out into the desert after all.

The wind picked up around Remaln. The sun began to set in the distance. He didn't move an inch, as his clothes blew in the wind. His eyes were closed tightly, as to prevent the sand getting in them, but also because that way he was not distracted from his thoughts.

Nabooru… his mind echoed. So Ganondorf does appear to have some passion in his head after all. Jumping into running water after her, that's not friendship. Hmm, perhaps… perhaps this could work after all.

Something grunted in the distance. Remaln picked up his head and faced it towards the direction it came from. A figure was only just visible through the sand. It was having trouble walking, but kept a steady pace on struggling legs. It was carrying something. Or someone.

The doors behind Remaln burst open, which should have knocked him down, but it seemed that reality shifted itself around him. He was still standing in the same pose, in the same place, only the doors were open behind him. A frantic Wayamad and Marget ran quickly from them and towards Ganondorf. Ganondorf's clothes were covered with wet sand, which sprinkled off as he slowly handed the unconscious Nabooru to Wayamad and Marget.

"Ganondorf! What happened to Nabooru?!" Said Wayamad. It was a rather stupid thing to say, not that she knew it at this moment, but one day she probably looked back and saw how absurd it was to ask how someone who fell off a bridge became unconscious.

"She… the water… lots of water…" muttered Ganondorf. Despite being recently drenched, he was thirsting, not that it was his concern at the time.

Wayamad and Marget rushed Nabooru inside, and Remaln approached the bent over Ganondorf, that almost seemed ignored. Ganondorf almost felt relief for it. It was possibly the first time he didn't come first.

"I take it you would be thirsty Ganondorf?" Said Remaln, looking down at Ganondorf, but not bending over.

"Y.. Yes." Struggled Ganondorf.  
Ganondorf heard a whining sound for a second, which then stopped. And as soon as he looked up at Remaln's hand, so did he.

A shaking sphere of water was floating just above Remaln's fingertips. It didn't glow, it didn't shine, it was just floating water, but in a way that Ganondorf would never have imagined, it was like gravity had taken a day off for liquid. And he'd almost believe that too, if it weren't for what happened earlier in the day. Remaln moved his hand swiftly over Ganondorf's head, and the water followed it loyally. Remaln then turned his fingers down in the direction of Ganondorf's head, and the water followed accordingly, drenching Ganondorf's head. Ganondorf was left crouching, tired, wet, shocked and slightly less thirsty, continuing a questioning stare at Remaln.

"How did you do that?" He managed, after a few seconds.

Remaln turned his face down to Ganondorf.

"That, young prince, is the greatest power in Hyrule." He said. The next word echoed upon Ganondorf's mind like a great bell stuck inside his head.

"Magic…"

Remaln helped Ganondorf inside the fortress.

* * *

Ganondorf lay meekly on his bed. It was really just a block of sandstone with blankets on it, but if you haven't slept on anything else, you didn't have much to compare it to. Remaln stood by the door, and Ganondorf pushed himself up and looked at Remaln.

"What did you do before?" He said.

Remaln glanced quickly at Ganondorf, then went back to staring at the wall opposite of him, as if it contained much more interesting material then Ganondorf himself.

"I told you. Magic."

Ganondorf tried to muster up the word in his head. It was like a dictionary opened up in his head, but inside it, nothing came in-between Mace and Mask (Ganondorf knew more words then that, but really, if you ask anyone to think of so many words between such and such, they'll tell you much less then they know.) But he immediately had the feeling that the word was important.

"What is magic?" Said Ganondorf. He could have gone into much more detail, but that would most likely just turn out to make him look like a fool.

Remaln turned his head toward Ganondorf. He took it that magic was one element that had been purposely left out of Gerudo fairy tales.

"Magic is the… manipulation-" When he said that word he immediately saw the emotion on Ganondorf's face "Changing of the elements. Fire, water, air, earth and wood. It means you have total control over those aspects of the world. You can defeat entire armies with it if you are powerful with it."

Ganondorf's mind registered all this information. "So.. It's just like being strong? The more powerful you are, the more you can do?"

Remaln considered this rather plain definition. "I suppose so, just with magic you can do so much more. With Strength you can lift a rock, with magic you can make one."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

Remaln turned to face Ganondorf now.

"Because, Ganon, I believe you could use it."

Ganondorf replied with, after a brief second of silence. "Not everyone can?"

"No, Ganondorf. Only those with special talent can use it."

"And why do you think I can?"

"Because of the bull."

The room fell completely silent. Even the sounds of the desert crept to nothing outside the window. Remaln did not sway his gaze. Ganondorf's memory struck down upon him like a boulder from a catapult. He could remember the bull. Its scream as he ripped down its back, he could remember it falling around him. He could remember, most of all, that sword. How it called to him just before.

Remaln stepped towards Ganondorf. "I believe you remember it."

Ganondorf stood up and pointed accusingly at Remaln. "What does that have to do with anything?!" He barked.

"It has everything to do with it." Remaln took anything step. "You should have died. No warrior in this desert could have defeated that bull on their own. You saw what happened when they tried." Mertey's face flashed in front of Ganondorf. The final breath was ripped from his memory. "But you… And that sword. It came from nowhere. What were the chances of you landing on top of it? A thousand to one? And that's only if you are lucky. But you got it." Another step. "And you charged towards the bull. Your body was basically torn into shreds, I would have been amazed if you could stand properly again for the rest of your life. But you could. And you cut off its horn like it was fabric. You shouldn't have been able to pick up that sword, it was at least twice your size back then." Step. "You jumped upon its back, and you thrust the sword into its thick hide." Tears were developing in Ganondorf's eyes. "You tore right down its back." Step. Remaln was now right up to Ganondorf's face. "You killed it."

Ganondorf pushed Remaln away, then rammed him into a wall, and stared at his face, Ganondorf's eyes almost leaking tears.

"Why is that important?" He gasped.

"Because it was at that point that I noticed you possessed one of the three characteristics of the goddesses." Remaln pushed Ganondorf away from him. "There were three characteristics that the goddesses left to Earth, and the 'blessed' ones possess a large amount of one of them. They are courage, wisdom and power. It is obvious to me" Remaln's gaze was now cold, and strong. It was the sort of gaze that could stop a rolling boulder "that you have power."

Ganondorf stopped, and looked down at his hands. He could almost feel the blood of the bull back upon them.

"That is why, Ganondorf," Said Remaln "That I have chosen to teach you magic."

"Why? What good is it to me?!"

"Because with it I can take you to Hyrule!" Remaln blew out of his mouth. Ganondorf looked back at him. The great oasis…. "If you learn magic, then I could introduce you to the Royal family. You could unite the two countries! Imagine, a land where all the lands of Hyrule are at peace!"

Ganondorf's eyes opened wider. He didn't know they were actually at war, but now… He considered how few people like Remaln came into Gerudo territory… maybe what he's saying is true.

"Why do they care about my ability with magic?" Said Ganondorf.

"That," Said Remaln "You will find out when you get there."

Remaln turned for the door.

"Tomorrow, Ganondorf," said Remaln. "I will teach you your first spell."

Remaln left, and closed the door behind him on the leaning Ganondorf.

* * *

The next morning, Remaln and Ganondorf were at the top of the Gerudo Fortress watchtower. It was the only place that Marget couldn't see exactly what they were doing, and in so doing, stop them from getting anywhere in the training.

Remaln stood in front of Ganondorf, who was sitting down on a wooden table, generally used for the guard women to play cards on.

"Okay, Ganondorf, today I will teach you your first spell" He stopped himself before even seeing Ganondorf's expression "which is what you call a different type of magic. However, instead of trying elemental magic, we're going to try another kind."

Ganondorf tried to imagine what it was. Perhaps he was going to ask him to rearrange the Fortress Courtyard, but then he realised that it was rather pointless, rearranging sand to another place and replacing that with sand.

Remaln closed his fist in front of Ganondorf, and then opened it. It shined faintly with light, and a small sphere appeared in the palm of his hand. Remaln bounced it up and down several times.

"I want you to do the same as this." He said.

Ganondorf replied with the simplest answer.  
"How?"

Remaln had planned for that question. It came about often with Ganondorf, and after a while, you knew exactly what he was going to ask. The questions generally rotated around 'What' 'Where' 'Who' 'How', and occasionally 'Why'.

"You just have to try to visualize yourself holding the ball. That's the easy part Ganon, then, you have to strain yourself, bring all your strength into your hand, and then let it all go. If you have any chance with magic the ball should appear in your hand." Remaln turned around to leave, looked back at Ganondorf, and shook his head in an emotionless manner.

This left Ganondorf, sitting alone in the room. There was only one window in whole room, which faced towards the entrance to the valley; so really, he wasn't going to be entertained by looking out there. He took a glance at his hand. Right, so concentrate and think of holding the ball. He thought about this. He imagined a very plain ball, just white, and simply round. Then Ganondorf tried the hard part. He concentrated, strained his arm until he couldn't feel it anymore, leeched every part of strength he could find out of his body and into his hand, and then he released it.

There was a quiet 'pop' sound, a small cloud of smoke, and he looked into his hand. It was holding a ball exactly like he imagined.

A total of thirty seconds had passed since Remaln left the room.

Ganondorf stared at the ball, bounced it up and down a few times, and then sat silently. Was that all Remaln expected him to do? It didn't seem worth leaving the room for him to do it. Maybe he meant make more then one.

Ganondorf concentrated again. He thought of a more detailed ball this time. A red one, with yellow stars on it. He concentrated, strained his strength, and 'pop'. Another ball appeared in his hand. He placed it on the table next to the other one. Ganondorf looked outside the window. Remaln was walking around to the Oasis. He wasn't going to be back for some time.

* * *

Ganondorf had spent two hours in the room. Now it was roughly filled with the balls. After the tabletop didn't accommodate for them all, he started putting them under the table, and eventually there were too many for that, and then he piled them onto of each other. There had to be at least four hundred of the little balls filling the room.

Ganondorf just held out his hand and then another small pop audited and the ball was in his hand, which he lacklustre dropped onto the pile. He didn't even have to strain his hand anymore, now he just had to have intent to do it. Looking at the dangerously large pile, he considered that was enough for today. Remaln had to be content with that.

Then again, maybe just one more…

He held out his hand, and stepped backwards, onto the pile. The balls split apart and littered the floor, and Ganondorf ran on them for a second, and then his hand flailed wildly in the air and he dropped to the ground.

And imagined himself dropping to the ground.

There was a loud 'Fumph' sound near Ganondorf's hand, and then he hit the ground. The door handle turned and the door opened, and Remaln casually walked in.

"So Ganon, have you managed to make one ye-" He said, and then stopped mid-sentence.

Not only did the balls litter the room, but also, next to the Ganondorf pushing himself off the ground, was someone who resembled Ganondorf, but in another way, looked nothing like him.

* * *

Ganondorf stormed past of the draw bridge of Hyrule, and felt it slowly cracking under his feet. When he got to the other side, a loud and laboured crack screamed behind him, followed by a splash. Ganondorf stormed through the streets, and the paint on buildings withered and curled as he passed. He stormed into the burnt fields of Hyrule Castle walkway, and the ash blew away, into the air past and into the mountains. Ganondorf stormed into the castle, and to his hatred, stayed exactly as it did. The triforce symbol still shined over the drawbridge. He went into the king's room, but did not sleep, but instead looked over the country of Hyrule, specifically into the forest. The Kokiri lived there. And so did that boy. A figure moved behind Ganondorf in the shadows, and walked behind him. Perfectly behind him.


	11. Chapter 10: Phantom Ganon

Chapter Ten: Phantom Ganon

Ganondorf gripped the reigns of Natasusemo, and sat unstirred on his saddle, engulfed by the world around him. It was one of those things that are always there, yet you just don't seem to notice. Like who was trailing Ganaondorf, not like a henchman to his superior, but more like a puppy to its owner.

It followed him to the entrance of the lost woods, into the head of the Kokiri village. And it would certainly follow him further. He absorbed Hyrule field, the pure varsity of it. The life of the world around him, the fact that while it ended at all sides, it still went on and blended into the world it was...

* * *

Remaln stood in the doorway, his hand still gripping the door handle, and squeezing it in the way that a child holds to his mother's hand.

Ganondorf lay in a muddled pile on the floor, amongst the leagues upon leagues of balls scattering the area. But something else was standing next to him. Remaln's face was almost white, but his face not stuck in an emotion you could possibly relate to horror. But more, fascination.

Ganondorf connected with his face, but didn't see what he was so distressed about. But then he saw that his eyes weren't look at him, but next to him, and so, as human nature required, he looked in the same direction.

Ganondorf, in his whole life, had never seen his reflection. Really, Gerudo were not vain by nature, but many however managed to fight against this idea, such as Reeta and Geta, who tended to spend long hours looking at the Oasis, despite the fact that it never returned a clear reflection, but Ganondorf knew that this person was somehow familiar. Despite the fact he hadn't been there a mere twenty seconds ago.

He had a streak of bright red hair, coming down to his shoulders, like Ganondorf's, but his only grew to the back of his head. The figure was wearing the same clothes as Ganondorf, except they were white instead of the general black of Ganondorf's clothes.

And it dawned upon Ganondorf, for the first time in his life, he had just seen himself.

Remaln took a step forward. He was sure he knew of this spell. He knew he could name it. He knew he could identify it. And he knew that neither of the people in this room should be able to do it.

"Ganondorf…" He said, staring at the new figure in the room. "What did you do?"

Ganondorf looked quickly towards the room's new participant and back to Remaln several times. "I, I don't know! I just, tried to make another ball, and-"

Remaln stopped. He surveyed the surrounding area, covered like a bad carpet with the small balls, all of different colours and patterns. But all perfectly round. Remaln then ignored them, and focused on the figure.

He walked straight up to it, and stared it straight in the face. He began to walk around it, and looked it up and down, and around its body.

This isn't possible he thought. It just isn't possible.

"What did you do, Ganondorf?" He asked again. He was getting the closest to frustration as Ganondorf had ever seen him.

"I, just, fell over." He said. He knew it was weak. He knew it was irrelevant. He didn't know he was wrong. Remaln continued look at the figure in the middle of the room.

"What were you doing when you fell over?" He said.

Ganondorf took a brief glance at his hand, and around him. "I was, trying to make another ball when I tripped on one." He looked around him again. He noticed there wasn't a new ball.

Remaln gave a slight tilt of his head. Ganondorf could tell that it was not a gesture of approval, just acknowledgement.

"And what were you thinking when you tried to make the ball?"

"I was thinking of-" Then Ganondorf stopped. He wasn't thinking of a ball at the time. He was thinking about… He glanced at the figure next to him.

Remaln tilted his head again. He looked very calm and sure on the outside, but on the inside the equivalent to a flood was happening in a bucket. He wasn't prepared for something like this.

Remaln idly waved a hand in front of the figure's face. It didn't move, it didn't even blink. He touched its hair. Still no reaction. He pulled a hair out, and it came, but still nothing from the figure.

Then he kicked it in the shin. Its clothes reacted to it, leaving a small imprint of his shoe's toe. But the figure stood there, and did nothing.

Ganondorf pushed himself up. He felt drained, as if his entire energy had been sucked out of him within seconds. A second. Just like how his hand felt when he first cast the ball spell.

Ganondorf looked into the eyes of the figure in the middle of the room. He knew it wasn't female, it lacked anything resembling one, but it defiantly was not Remaln. Remaln stood back, as if to admire this handy work, which would have been a good way of putting it, if it was not for the sheer look of dread that surrounded Remaln.

Ganondorf stood right up to the figure. That face, he knew he had seen it before. But those eyes, they were so, dull and… Lifeless. Ganondorf had seen them before without a doubt. They were the exact same eyes as Mertey, just before-

Ganondorf took a sudden step back. He turned to Remaln.

"Remaln, is this… Is HE dead?" He said, with the amount of drastic shock in his voice to make a train turn around on its tracks.

Remaln just continued staring at it, ignoring Ganondorf.

"Remaln? Is he?" He said again, feeling tears welling up behind his eyes. Remaln continued his enlightened stare.

Ganondorf looked away from Remaln, and back at the figure. He stepped towards it, and stared right into its eyes. Remaln glanced at him. No, he wasn't looking into its eyes; he was looking past them.

Ganondorf raised a hand to its face. He pressed his fingers into its forehead, and slowly and gently pulled his fingers down his face, closing its eyes. Ganondorf wasn't sure why he did this later. He just felt it was right. Nothing should be left staring into nothing. And somewhere, in the cosmic balance of the universe, the world considered him right. Which may explain what happened next.

Ganondorf took his hands off its face once he reached just below the eyes. He solemnly turned his back to the creature, and felt a tear run down his face. He didn't know this thing. He had no idea what it was. All he knew was, it deserved something, and this was the best he could supply.

Remaln stared at its face, but then rested his shoulders, and turned around. So he wasn't able to do what he thought he had. But still, an interesting turn of events.

Then there was a flash of light. Ganondorf immediately spun around, and Remaln turned his head to the side, and looked behind him. The figure's eyes were open, and they glowed a sickly yellow light from them. The pressure was creating a gust of wind, and Ganondorf had to put his guard up to protect himself from it hurting his eyes, but Remaln just stood there, his loose clothes blew back in the wind, his wide brimmed hat flapping the wind, but remaining on his head as if on its own will. Then the figure suddenly snapped its eyes closed, the light disappeared, and the wind died as quickly as it rose.

Ganondorf put down his guard. The figure slowly swayed, and jumbled its feet around, as if looking for ground to stand on, with its hands out stretched. Its eyes blinked quickly, and then looked straight forward.

"What is happening here?" It said with an arrogant harshness.

* * *

Natasusemo trotted down the path towards the Lost Woods. The figure was continuing to trail him, quietly and keeping up a constant pace. As they neared the bridge into the Kokiri village, Natasusemo took careful steps upon the bridge, and didn't glance down. Most Gerudo horses were afraid of such heights, having been raised in considerably flat land, but learned to deal with the bridge onto Hyrule, but usually only worked with running water. But this horse didn't care; it seemed almost immune to fear. The figure calmly crossed the bridge, without a word. Then they stepped into the Kokiri Forest, where they were determined to sort some things out, if they could, for good. The figure still followed.


	12. Chapter 11: What Home Is

Chapter 11: What Home Is

Ganondorf shifted slightly in the saddle as they passed into the Kokiri village. It was being around children that disturbed Ganondorf, the fact that no matter how old these people are, some were rumoured to be even older then Ganondorf, they still held onto this incredible innocence. Not the innocence that stops you from doing bad things, but the innocence that seems to make someone committed. They never left their home. That was what made Ganondorf uneasy. And they never grew. Never truly changed.

But despite this, Ganondorf still strided as confidently as ever through the area. All the Kokiri stared at him, and partly at the horse. Something told him that not many large animals make their way into the Kokiri Forest, and this one was as terrifying as they come. And then it stopped, quietly, in its tracks. Ganondorf looked down past the horse's head, and nodded. He solemnly and calmly got off his horse and walked slowly and daringly to the front of the horse, never taking his eyes off the Kokiri in front of him. The small figure tried not to tremble, but he didn't quite seem able to control his legs from shaking frantically. Even his fairy, which normally flew lofty above his head, now trembled and hid inside his hat. To Ganondorf, it was really quite pathetic, and in a not at all funny way.

"Do you have something to say to me, Kokiri?" He said, softly. He continued his passive glare at the being.

"I… I am…" It began to spit, in-between his teeth chattering. "I am… The head of the Kokiri!" He quickly squeaked, like a mouse facing off a cat. "My name is Mido, and I want to know why you're here!"

Ganondorf looked down at him. Mido felt the world get colder and colder with each passing moment, and then felt the environment reach sub zero. And all Ganondorf had to do was chuckle beneath his breath.

"There are few who can talk to me in such a fashion, Kokiri." Mido felt the eyes penetrating his skin, like some kind of invisible sword. He had never felt so weak before.

Ganondorf took a single step forward. Mido felt his legs crumble into a pointless mess beneath him, but remained standing. "I wish to know… About a boy."

Several of the Kokiris that were able to hear him let out gasps. They all knew only one boy had left the village. What they didn't know was where he was.

Mido stared at Ganondorf, with the type of shock that is evident in a rabbit looking into headlights, then shook his head and looked down at the ground. "We.. Don't know anything about him." Mido paid his fullest attention to the ground. It appeared evident to Ganondorf that he was avoiding the gaze of a very certain Kokiri.

Ganondorf crouched down next to the small cowering figure. Despite Mido not looking at Ganondorf, he could still feel his eyes. "I know he came from here, Kokiri. He was wearing your type of tunic. He even had a fairy. Why was he outside of your village?"

Mido looked up at Ganondorf, with a rage created out of terror in his eyes. "Because he was banished from here!" For the first time in quite a while, someone had yelled to Ganondorf's face. Mido suddenly seemed slightly taller to Ganondorf, but Mido continued to view Ganondorf as a type of living fortress. And the Kokiri had never seen, let alone built a fortress before.

Ganondorf slightly withdrew a single finger, and carefully tucked it under Mido's chin. Mido was forced to look into Ganondorf's eyes. He felt his knees finally collapse beneath him, but his body did not crouch.

"I told you, few speak to me in such a matter, but none, no Hyrulian, no Goron, no Zora, has dared to yell at me. Except for you, Kokiri. So that is why…" Ganondorf's cape rushed around his shoulders, as he stood up at full height, holding Mido above his head in a harsh grip. "I will not kill you."

* * *

Ganondorf stood before, what could only be described as, himself, completely dumbfounded. He saw that only less then a minute ago, that this figure was dead, or at least not in a state of living. And now it wasn't.

It, or he, was looking frantically around the room, as if it hadn't seen it before. Then it occurred to Ganondorf that it probably hadn't. If it appeared to be dead before, how would it know about this room? How would it know anything? But then again, it did just speak, and in a tone that Ganondorf knew he didn't adopt.

It put its hand on a table and regained some balance it seemed to have lost. Remaln still stood with his back to it, but his face was partially turned at it. His hat, which he'd adopted before coming into the desert and never seemed to take off, hid most of his face, and his hair which had grown far longer since arriving in the desert blocked out the back of his head.

"Why am I here?" He said. He looked at one of his hands, and clenched it open and closed, like he was exploring using it for the first time.

Ganondorf approached him, like a mouse coming towards a mousetrap that lacked cheese. He reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, and then the Ganon shrugged his shoulders viciously and pushed his hand away. "Answer me! Why have I been summoned?!" It shouted, in tones that Ganondorf rarely found himself exploring.

Ganondorf was lost for words. 'Summoned'? He had been summoned? Like the warriors of old that Troto had spoke about, being called to their final fight? But… Perhaps it had a different meaning.

Remaln turned to face it. He walked up to it, and grabbed its chin and held up its face. It grabbed Remalns hand, drew it down to his waist and twisted it around. Ganondorf swore he heard a crack.

Its gripped slowly yet, somehow hastily released its grip once it saw that Remaln's curious expression did not change.

"Ganondorf," he said, in sombre yet commanding tones, and even released his glare on the clone "Tell this creature how you brought it here."

Ganondorf looked at it, and then turned his face slightly to the ground. "It was… An accident…"

The other Ganon looked at him questionably. "You… Did…" It muttered, then grabbed Ganondorf around the throat. Ganondorf noticed that he actually felt nothing. No pressure, no tightening, nothing. "You brought me here by accident?!" It said, with tones of both horror and anger.

Ganondorf nodded wearily. It was the truth. He knew it was. Ganondorf gingerly held its wrist in his hand, and it willingly came down. There was absolutely no resistance. He looked in its eyes, and saw what could be called the biggest pool of doubt and hopelessness he had ever seen.

"Ganondorf," Said Remaln. "Do you know of a remote shelter in this desert?"

Ganondorf lowered his gaze, and turned to Remaln. He did know of one.

* * *

It was only fifteen minutes later when Remaln and Ganondorf walked out of the fortress. They had managed to carry a rather heavy and cumbersome wooden box, taken from the storage room, just a few doors down from the watchtower. They tried to hold it steady, although every now and again it would bump into a wall, and make noises that most Gerudo wouldn't think of muttering, unless completely and utterly alone. Most of the passing women managed to ignore this, although some of the younger girls, who tended to pay a particular and embarrassing attention to Ganondorf and Remaln, merely because they were somehow different, but really none of the mothers quite felt like saying how just yet, were getting dangerously curious of the contents of the box. Remaln would generally scowl at them if they glanced at him, and this made some of them depart from the interest of the box.

As they reached the complex stairs, which lead to the outside, a familiar face popped around the corner.

"Ganondorf!" Said Nurse Wayamad, with the expression that explained if you were to make a joke, it would be your last words. "Where have you been all morning!" It wasn't a question, because blatantly, she didn't expect or leave time for an answer. "Marget has been looking all over for you, and Nabooru is about to wake up and-" She stopped suddenly, and looked at Remaln. "Oh, hello Remaln." She said, in the tones that a busy businessman may address a housewife. She then directed her attention to the box, which was currently pressing down on Ganondorf and Remaln's fingers, as it began to slip out of grip. "What's this? What've you got in there?"

Before Ganondorf could open his mouth, Remaln said "Training supplies. Ganondorf and I have to go to study certain matters." Ganondorf looked quickly to his face, and it was beginning to show signs of strain. His fingers tried to wrap around the corners of the box.

Wayamad looked at them both curiously, then walked up to the box. "Oh, really? And since when have either of you actually paid attention to studies?" She said, in the way a judge would express evidence before giving the death sentence. Wayamad was not a vicious woman by nature, but she was justifiably annoyed, after the events that happened on the bridge just a day ago, and she, being the deliverer of Ganondorf and best friend of his mother, made her feel somewhat safe at yelling at the Great Prince of the Gerudo. "Nabooru has been in her bed all morning and you haven't even visited her! Your mother is worried sick because she thinks you may have ran away and just what is so important in this box that gives you the right to ignore them!?" She screeched, and slammed her hands on the lid. And just that second of more weight was all it took for Ganondorf and Remaln to lose grip on the box.

It fell quickly, not in the way something precious tumbles down a cliff face, but in the manner of a cursed item falling into oblivion. It clambered against the ground and a noise came out from it, which very much sounded like a loud 'Ow', in a familiar voice. Luckily, it didn't open.

Wayamad glared at the box, and looked at Ganondorf. He was standing upright, staring nervously at the box. Remaln slapped his hand against his brow in annoyance.

"Did… Did that box just… Speak?" Wayamad said.

Ganondorf looked up at her. He heard it too. "Uh, no! That was, that was me!" He said. He picked up his foot and jumped up and down. "Ow, ow, see, it hurts?" He said, in an eager to please manner. Remaln would have jumped out of a window right then and there, if only one was large enough.

Wayamad looked at the foot Ganondorf was still holding up, hopping on the other one to keep balance, back at the box, which appeared very motionless. Remaln was rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, possibly to escape the embarrassing events surrounding him.

Wayamad just wrinkled her brow, looked at Ganondorf curiously, and walked away, muttering certain opinions about men which she normally wouldn't say in the company of Ganondorf or Remaln.

Ganondorf carefully put his foot back onto the ground, and Remaln opened up one eyeball, to inspect whether or not it was safe to come out. Ganondorf picked up one end of the box, and Remaln wordlessly accepted his, and they walked, carefully, outside of the fortress.

* * *

About a mile away from the Fortress, Ganondorf and Remaln set the box down and opened it. The figure from the watchtower emerged quickly, and rubbed its back. And then stared at the sky as he was facing that way. Then he nodded, in a sort a wary confidence, and then looked at Ganondorf. Its expression was not what you would call friendly.

"Follow us." Said Remaln, and he set off into the direction of the setting sun. Ganondorf followed next to Remaln, but the figure stayed several feet behind them, and faced its head to the ground.

Ganondorf leant next to Remaln. "What is it?" He asked, in the simple tones he had managed to master over the years.

Remaln merely stared in front of him. "I've never seen one myself. Nor have I known anyone who has managed to create one." His eyes became glazed and misty, as if he was losing himself in his mind. "Except you." His tones were of disgust, instead of admiration. But Ganondorf learned not to expect such things from Remaln. "They are called Phantoms, and are magical copies of the caster. It is said that they cannot die." He took a deep breath. It was as if he hated to say that. "But they lack the same soul and passion of the caster. Apparently they are sometimes the complete opposite of the creator. But they remain the exact mirror image."

Ganondorf looked back at the 'Phantom' Ganon. He was familiar, and that must be the reason. He WAS himself. He saw brief glimpses in the Oasis, but they had never managed to hold his interest long. Ganondorf did however see reflections of himself in the long metal organ pipes when he used to play it, but they appeared strange and distorted, so it had rarely occurred to him that it could be him. In fact, the only Gerudo he knew who owned mirrors were Reeta and Geta, and they tended to keep them hidden, under the influence that too much use could dull the reflection. Gerudos all knew that almost anything will wear out with age and use, so it hadn't occurred to Reeta and Geta yet that perhaps it was not the same to glass.

The only difference between the Phantom and Ganondorf was their clothes. The Phantom was wearing white, while Ganondorf black.

"What about our clothes?" Said Ganondorf.

Remaln paused, then responded. "It may have been a way for the creator's company to distinguish between him and the Phantom. Or perhaps it was to symbolise the opposite passions." He sounded confident, but somewhere inside him, Ganondorf knew, like all students under their teachers, he didn't have any idea of what he was talking about.

Ganondorf looked forward. On most days of the summer the winds would be dangerously high around this area of the desert, but today they seemed strangely calm. He couldn't even see the Poe, a ghost of which had been given the job of guiding people who could see him (and according to Troto, these people were few and far between) but Ganondorf swore that times when he was out here he saw something flying directionless in the sand being thrown into the sky by the winds.

He also couldn't help to notice that Remaln had kept his fists tightly clenched since they entered the desert.

On the horizon he could make out the outline of the temple where they were headed. It was about two miles in front of them, and was the tallest structure in the desert.

The Phantom behind them picked up some sand and ran it thoughtfully through its fingers. It was like it didn't know what anything it saw was, but took it in his stride, and never asked questions. And then it occurred to Ganondorf that it was the complete opposite of what he would do.

Once they reached the Temple doors, Ganondorf pushed them open painstakingly, and was followed by Remaln, who apparently didn't notice that Ganondorf was opening the doors, and the Phantom who went into the temple not breaking his pattern of movement. It did however notice the different sound his boots made on the stone. Ganondorf pushed the door closed, and Remaln released his grip. The winds exploded from all directions and threw sand into the sky.

* * *

The room inside was large, and headed off into two directions. A large rock blocked one to the east, and the other door inside the entrance was barely large enough for a child. This is as far as Ganondorf had ever been in the temple. Once all of Troto's class had gone to the temple. But only once. It was partly because the sands surround the path to it for most of the year except in spring, where the winds temporarily die down, but also because it was sacred. Most Gerudo never stepped into it twice. This place had wide historical importance, and was a sign of the Gerudo way of life. It even was supposed to hold something of great power that helped the leader of the first Gerudo women. And when Troto told them this, Ganondorf could see that she knew more then was willing to tell. On the stone there was an engraving of three triangles, which Remaln kept his head from facing.

Triforce…

"So is this where you had in mind, Ganondorf?" Said Remaln, slowly inspecting the room from his standing point.

Ganondorf nodded. "Hardly anybody comes here anymore, and it's got a small Oasis outside so he won't get too thirsty." Ganondorf seemed quite pleased at this. At this point in life he didn't think much deeper then two steps, and they usually contained of merely the larger essentials. His problem was he would miss small but essential details such as 'Avoid the Tiger'. Or even 'Tigers are here'.

"That won't be a problem." Said Remaln. The Phantom was currently sitting against the large stone in the way of the door elsewhere. "He's a magical being." Ganondorf's expression went plainly blank. Remaln ignored it and went on as if he intended to. "So he only needs a presence of magic to survive. He does not need food or water, he doesn't have the same needs, nor desires, as a normal person. As long as he has magic, he won't die, and Hyrule has the most magic of anywhere in the world." Remaln then turned to the door. "Are you coming Ganondorf?"

Ganondorf looked back at the figure. It was still leaning against the stone, with his head facing down between his legs. It was a pose of pure depression. "We're just going to leave him here? Without telling him anything?"

Remaln didn't turn, or even slightly shift. He never did. "I told you he doesn't feel the same way. He doesn't care." And Remaln opened the doors and left. The Ganondorf saw the sand fall immediately from the air as soon as he stepped out.

Ganondorf turned back to the crouching figure. It didn't care? Then why did it look like its world had fallen down around him? Ganondorf looked back to the door, and glanced down for a minute. You cannot leave someone alone without a word. No matter how it came into the world.

He walked over to it. Him, that is. He sat down next to him, but the Phantom didn't lift its head.

Ganondorf tried to find something to say. There didn't seem like much he could say, without somehow finding himself wishing he were in Remaln's position. "This is your home." He said. It seemed simple enough. He didn't respond. "You have the whole place to yourself." Still no response. "What do you think?"

He lifted his head. "I should not be here." His face was wrought with despair. "Go away and leave me. I do not deserve to exist." He lowered his head again. "I was an accident."

Ganondorf felt uncomfortable. Usually people did not try to make him feel bad. And then he thought, usually I don't try to make people feel bad. How can you talk to something that's supposed to be the complete opposite of you? "So you don't think you should be here because I didn't mean to create you?"

"All Phantoms have a purpose. I lack that purpose, so my existence is meaningless." His head seemed to sag from his skull. "Some are created as sacrifices, or a distraction. Some are intended to be worthless." He lifted up his head and looked Ganondorf in the eyes. His eyes burned with a type of coldness, in which both hopelessness and fear crept into. "But none have no meaning."

Ganondorf returned the stare, but in a lighter mood. "So neither do you." Ganondorf looked away from the Phantom's expression. "If I didn't give you a purpose before, then I'll make one for you. I don't know when, or how, but I will."

Ganondorf picked himself up, and began to walk towards the door. "I'll visit you occasionally. Maybe we can find your purpose together." The Phantom didn't lift his head, but it did give a small nodding impression. Ganondorf opened the doors, and the sunlight burned through. Remaln still stood outside, but was facing the opposite direction from the door, waiting for Ganondorf to follow. Ganondorf stepped out, and closed the doors behind him.

The Phantom then picked himself up and began to study the walls, and hear what sound his boots made on them.

* * *

Ganondorf walked back with Remaln. Remaln remained silent throughout the whole walk, but this was better to Ganondorf. It gave him a chance to think.

Ganondorf often found himself thinking to himself. He was the type of person who often agreed with himself, while some people are betrayed by their own thoughts. Ganondorf had a feeling that one of the betrayers was trying to rally followers, himself being one of them.

The Phantom said that he wasn't created with a purpose, so he was pointless. What Ganondorf's traitorous mind was thinking was 'Do I have a purpose?' And then Ganondorf realised that he did. He was meant to be the King of the Gerudo, to lead them to a new age.

But no, that was the purpose of the male Gerudo, born once every century… But not Ganondorf, that was what he was, not who. Did he have a purpose in himself? And if he didn't, was he pointless as well?

What was the point of it all?

And really, when Ganondorf thought hard about it, he realised how insignificant it was.

* * *

Ganondorf came back to the temple two days later. He had spent some time with Nabooru during the first day back, but she still couldn't walk properly yet. He also had to avoid Wayamad, as every time she saw Ganondorf she'd look at him curiously, and if Remaln was anywhere around him, for some reason she'd flash him a look which had the same effect as a snakebite. Marget wasn't happy with them either, after avoiding her for the previous day, and not giving an explanation. The last thing that Ganondorf or Remaln was going to say to Marget that he was learning how to control forces beyond which the normal human mind could handle. It'd probably get them both grounded, for a start.

Today Remaln was not going with Ganondorf. He'd apparently been called to a meeting with the teachers of the fortress. Gerudo politics works in a similar way to a normal democracy, but it was a shared responsibility between the teachers and nurses of the complex, as the Gerudo were large believers that their daughters were the future. And son, of course. It wasn't an iron fist rule, and the King had more influence over the decisions of the race, but during the century between the death of the old king and birth of the next they had to manage themselves, and in their opinion, they did a good job of it.

Ganondorf had read a book that Remaln had brought with him, in the small satchel that he brought with him, containing a few books, some Hyrulian water and a single change of clothes. It was pretty obvious that priests packed light. This book didn't have a cover on it, probably torn off at one point or another, but its first page presented, in a fancy style of Hyrulian script, proudly proclaiming 'Magic'. It explained in a way that Ganondorf could just make his head around after two nights of reading about the elements. They were apparently what made up the world, and they all seemed simple enough. They were all things that Ganondorf had seen before in life, Water, Wind (while Ganondorf would admit he hadn't actually seen wind, he knew it must be there, otherwise the sand was doing a very strange sort of jumping), Fire, Wood and Earth (he gathered that this was the strange type of ground he had seen while at the great Oasis, but he curious as to why one of them wasn't sand).

And magic was the control of them. It seemed strange to Ganondorf that for some reason somebody wanted to do have control over them. He'd always got on fine without having to force them to act as he wanted. But the fact that he wasn't currently being crushed from all sides by sand picked up by the winds did have its uses. And he also didn't understand the apparent 'Stress, strain and long lasting effects,' that magic was supposed to have on the caster, as the book instructed. He found that stopping the wind was very easy, because it didn't actually try to put up a fight, and all he had to do was intend for it to stay where it is, unlike the book which proclaimed the years of training and severe energy drain it was supposed it bring. It did bring him a headache after a while, but no real stress.

The temple was coming up much closer now. Amazing how near it actually was when you could see it. He could almost make it out from his room in the fortress even. He wondered what the Phantom would be doing…

As he came closer to the temple, he found himself looking up.

* * *

Remaln stood in front of the board of the Gerudo. Usually when a man is meeting with a foreign government or leaders, you expect a large half circle desk with all the users sitting on seats far too tall for them to take advantage of the head rest, and their faces shrouded in a darkness, but their hand gestures easily visible, and an un-named waiter coming past at random times to refill glasses of sherry.

In that respect, the Gerudo meeting room was something of a disappointment. It was two small wooden tables pushed together with several seats, which were usually used for children's classes, littered around them. Some of the women were standing up in the back of the room, and the youngest nurse, a woman named Peito, who had arrived back from Hyrule after her mother took her there as a child when she got married to a Hyrulian man, was sitting crossed legged in front of the table. It wasn't rare for women to come back after a few years in Hyrule, but they hardly ever talked about it once they got back. When you were in the desert, you were a Gerudo, and that's all there is.

Marget was also there. She wasn't officially a member of the board, as she stopped being a nurse after Ganondorf was born, but as the mother of the prince she was obliged to join in the affairs of the Gerudo. She was giving Remaln a concerning look, which made Remaln feel slightly uncomfortable, but compared to Wayamad, who since the incident with the box had not been on talking terms with Remaln, and was currently giving him cobra like stare, it was like sleeping in on Sundays.

The committee didn't have a head or leader. Everyone's opinion mattered as much as everyone else's, however people were more likely to listen if you had a higher position.

Remaln didn't shift however; despite the fact he had his suspicions of what the meeting may be for. He was prepared for them all to stare it him, innocently and waiting for him to ask what this is for. And he was ready to outwait the awkward silence that followed.

Wayamad leaned forward. "Do you know why you're here, Remaln?" she said, in cold speech.

"I have an idea, but if you can correct me." He said, returning the chilly manner, but in a disheartingly kind way.

Wayamad leaned back. It was no secret around the Fortress that Remaln and Wayamad didn't see eye to eye. Perhaps it was because he didn't have children over a religious matter, this being offensive to a professional midwife, or perhaps it was because she didn't respect the idea of priests in not having children, this being offensive to priests. All anyone could figure out it was something to do with children. "Well, as you should know that as soon as the girls that are on the Sending are back, the crowning ceremony for Ganondorf will take place." Wayamad studied Remaln's reaction. He hadn't changed at all in stance, although his eyes appeared even calmer than before. "This means, Remaln, that Ganondorf will officially be leader of the Gerudo, and will have utmost power over the decisions of the colony." Still, calm. "This will mean, Remaln, that we will have no further use for you. He will be, by your standards I believe, a man. So it would be best, we believe, if you went back to Hyrule."

Remaln nodded and then bowed to them, then straightened up. Wayamad now saw his eyes clearer. That wasn't just calm she saw. "I agree with you totally, Wayamad." There was something else. "I will indeed head back to Hyrule, the day after Ganondorf is crowned king." And now she knew what it was. "And I believe that Ganondorf should come with me." Confidence.

Wayamad stood up in her seat, and if her eyes were that before of a cobra's bite, now it was injecting the venom. "Are you mad Remaln?" She asked. She knew her opinion of the answer very well. "Take Ganondorf to Hyrule? Why? He doesn't need to be out there! He needs to remain within the Gerudo Fortress! He has no need for the world outside!"  
Remaln looked back at her coldly. His stance didn't change. "Ganondorf appears to be the only one of the Gerudo who doesn't have to go to Hyrule." He took a step towards the table, in front of Wayamad. "Can you tell me what is the Gerudo's main export?"

Wayamad was still standing up, her eyes burning and her hair was ruffled from those few moments of stress. "The Gerudo do not need to export. We don't need anything from them, so we don't give them anything. That is the way of the Gerudo." She said, in calmer tones. She knew this.

Remaln took another step, and leaned on the table in front of Wayamad. Their eyelashes could almost have been beating against each other. "Wrong." He said. And that was all he needed to say. All of the Gerudo looked at Remaln in a burning manner, but no one was as furious as Wayamad. She blinked, in order to control her anger, but also out of confusion. "The main export of the Gerudo is women."

While nobody actually saw what happened within the next few moments, they could all picture it in their minds. Wayamad's hand slapped Remaln, and his hat flew to the other side of the room, but Remaln stood in the same stance, completely unaffected. Wayamad was not very strong, but she knew she could do more than that. Remaln quickly picked up Wayamad's hand and placed it back on the table. Wayamad's eyes were shaking now. She was afraid of him.

"Every year the Gerudo send off an amount of women to Hyrule. Hyrule gains women for company, you could say, and the Gerudo get back children. And then they have girls, only girls, except for one incident, and then the cycle continues. The babies grow to be women, and they come to Hyrule." Wayamad was shaking now. Her whole body had become uncontrollable. She sat back down in her seat, still staring at Remaln. Her eyes didn't want to look, but she feared what would happen if she was to loosen her gaze. "But Ganondorf could change all that." He said. "He could make it so the two countries could live with each other, instead of living on this futile dispute that's lasted so many years."

"No." Said Marget. She hadn't said anything this whole time, just standing in the back corner. But now she was the only one who could stare Remaln in the eyes without shaking. Remaln had lived under her roof ever since he came to the Fortress, and she knew more about him than any other Gerudo. "We have survived all these years without having to give Hyrule anything. They've just given us children, and we've done what we must for it. But it was our choice." She stepped towards the table. The women separated from their seats to let her through. She stood next to the shaking Wayamad and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ganondorf can lead us how he wishes, not how you should."

And then Remaln smirked. It was a small one, but you could make it out on his face, mocking everything that was Gerudo. He nodded, and walked to the other side of the room to pick up his hat. He delicately put it back on his head, and headed towards the door. With his back still turned, he said in cheery tones "If that is how you wish to survive." And left. The wooden door hit gently against the stone frame. Wayamad leaned down and cried into her hands. She knew, against all she believed, he was right.

* * *

Ganondorf was standing next to a huge pile of sand, just outside of the temple. It had to be at least forty feet high. There were some footprints still left in the sand. There was nothing strange about the pile, except for the fact that it was there. It had no writing, no designs, nothing. It was plain.

Ganondorf, still looking up at the pile, backed up onto the stairs, and opened the door. The Phantom was sitting solemnly in the corner.

Ganondorf walked up to it, and dropped the books on the ground. "Did you make that thing outside?" He said, pointing to the door.

The Phantom looked up and nodded. His expression didn't change from depressed.

Ganondorf didn't have to search for what to say. "That, that's amazing! How'd you do it?" He asked enthusiastically. Usually he wouldn't be this excited about sand, but under the circumstances, it was unlikely to see it there.

The Phantom looked into his hands, and then pushed them towards Ganondorf. "With these." There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in his voice. The gloves he had where almost worn through. His previously white clothes were now dimmed with the colour of sand.

Ganondorf didn't know what else to say. Maybe, considering Remaln said it didn't have the same emotions and needs as a human, maybe it didn't have the same drives. Maybe it couldn't distinguish what was fun and what was boring. Maybe it just found things as something to do.

Ganondorf picked up a book and presented it in front of the Phantom. On the front cover it read 'The Code of the Gerudo".

"This is a book I picked out for you. I think that if you know things about the world, then it'll be easier to find your purpose." And it was the truth. If purpose meant that much to the Phantom, then Ganondorf would find its purpose.

The Phantom slowly took it in his hands, then turned it upside down. And on its side. Then knocked on it.

He held it by a single cover and the book quickly flopped open, and made the Phantom jump. He looked down at it, then bended over and touched it. Ganondorf stood in front of him, wondering what the problem was. Then it occurred to him.

He hadn't seen a book before.

The Phantom picked it up, and looked at the pages inside the book. Then turned it around, and flipped to the start of the book. He looked at the symbols of the book, written in old Gerudo, and then nodded accordingly. He placed a finger on the page and spoke out loud.

"To… The… Followers… Of… The… Gerudo…" He said, spacing out the words. Old Gerudo is written much in the style of the Japanese Kanji, with each symbol representing a different word. It was a very difficult language, the only two people in the Fortress to master it were Refise, the old Gerudo teacher, and Nabooru. Ganondorf had never gotten close to mastering it. But the figure in front of him was reading it like a second language. And at every symbol he saw, he gave a small nod, as if remembering them as he saw them.

The Phantom leaned against the wall as he read the words, some of which Ganondorf didn't even know what they meant, but whenever the Phantom got to a strange word, he'd just pronounce it then nod accordingly. And while his expression didn't seem interested, it was paying attention. Doing nothing but paying attention.

A few hours passed. Ganondorf picked up one of the books and began reading. It was in Hyrulian, a simpler text to Ganondorf, because each word was composed of different symbols, allowing him to sound out the words. After an hour, the Phantom picked up a book with the same text, and was reading even faster then before. He seemed to know everything, but had just forgotten what it was.

Ganondorf looked around the room. It was still as it was the day before. The Phantom hadn't done anything about the interior of the place, but seemed more interested in its outside. Ganondorf picked himself up and headed towards the door.

"I'm going to go now." Said Ganondorf. The Phantom still paid attention to the book he was holding, 'The Rights and Trials of the Gerudo'. "I'll be back in maybe a day or two." He opened the door. "Read the books as much as you want." He said. It didn't seem needed, he knew the Phantom would. Or at least as much as he felt was right to read.

He lifted his head from the book. "What is home?" He said, just before Ganondorf took a step outside.

Ganondorf withdrew his leg that was heading outside the door, and turned. "Home is… Home is…" He stuttered. He realised he didn't know exactly what it meant. It was just one of those words you came across everyday when talking, and never really thought about. "Home, I suppose, is where you belong." This was suitable for Ganondorf. The more he thought about it, the righter it sounded.

The Phantom looked back down at the book. "So, this temple is where I belong?" He said.

Ganondorf looked up at the roof, in the manner of all people who had an idea what to say next, just not how to say it. "Yes." He said, and looked at the Phantom. "For as long as it's your home, you belong here."

The Phantom continued staring at its book. "For as long as it is…"

Ganondorf nodded, and headed outside, back to the Gerudo Fortress.

* * *

The Great King Ganondorf slammed the Kokiri's head against a wall. He turned into a limp bag. Ganondorf then thrust him harshly to the ground, where he tumbled over to the hands of the other Kokiris.

Ganondorf looked at the other Kokiri crowd around him, protect him, and look at Ganondorf in a terrified manner, and then slowly dragged his body away, into the hut in the near centre of the village. One of them, a tall girl with a true forest green head of hair, a characteristic unique to the Kokiri, quickly muttered something, which Ganondorf just made out. Then she ran into a hut not far away.

Natasusemo shook his mane, in an impatient manner. Ganondorf walked silently away from him. He knew where he had to head.

Reached the shallow water, and, unlike most, ignored it. He took a step on it, and didn't fall through. Ripples spread across the otherwise still water, and if you really took notice, you could make out the footprint in the water, which disappeared almost immediately. And then he reached the path leading down past the village, and into the court of its past leader. No water came off Ganondorf's boots.

The tree was as he expected it. Withered and dead, with the ancient eyes that once appeared with such wisdom gone forever. The Great Deku Tree, the grandest and oldest of all the trees within the lost woods, was dead at Ganondorf's hands. But still, something was wrong about it…

Still the small snakes of light, born from the tree, and shown only to the Kokiri and those who are gifted with magic can see were continuing to fly about its leaves. If the tree truly was dead, then why did it still give life? Ganondorf heard a slight rustling in the leaves above his head. A small item fell from the branches and landed innocently in front of his feet. A single acorn…

Ganondorf picked it up, and held it between his fingers. His fist began to close on it, but then something struck him. Something from deep inside his memory, and he had covered as to never live again. He looked at the seed, then crouched down. He scooped some earth into his hands, placed the seed inside, and covered it up. He patted the dirt down with his hands, and stood back up. A figure appeared behind him. It said nothing. It barely moved besides the cape blowing gently in the wind, just as Ganondorf's.

Ganondorf continued to look forward, at the tree. "I want you to watch over this place. Make sure none of the Kokiri manage to leave the forest." He remembered the words of the forest girl. "Especially to go to the Lost Woods. Watch over them from the forest temple." Ganondorf turned away from the tree, and walked past the Phantom without taking any notice of its presence. "That is your home now."

The figure nodded, and disappeared from sight. Ganondorf drew himself onto Natasusemo, and just as he did, he saw a small figure rush around the small town. Without paying heed, he left the Kokiri Forest, just as sound filled the air and the Deku plants filled the area.

The Phantom would know what to do. This was where it belonged now.


	13. Chapter 12: The New King

Chapter Twelve: The New King

It was night now. The Great King Ganondorf was walking alone across the small bridge to Kakariko village. He never went there during the daylight hours. It wasn't because he was afraid of the villages. It was because the villages were afraid of him. Ganondorf didn't like unneeded fear, it often caused too many hassles, and led to undesirable outcomes. This was often the opinion of who had control over the fear. Ganondorf took the steps up to the town one at a time. That had been his way for a long time, take everything one step at a time, don't skip something that may seem unimportant, because chances are it'll decide the big steps in the future. And if you tried to walk backwards to cover those lost steps, it'd be more likely you'd slip, or find something on it to make you lose your balance.

And to someone such as Ganondorf, the world was balance.

He gradually made his way through the village. It was the only neighbouring village of Hyrule Castle, yet on almost any map, it wouldn't have a place. In fact, the space between Death Mountain and Hyrule Castle was often blank, or just roughly illustrated by a few trees or shrubs. This was all you needed to know about the town once home to the Shiekah. They did not want to be known. This was why, in Ganondorf's mind, it was worthless searching Kakariko for the woman who would protect Zelda with her life. It's the obvious place to look, so she wouldn't go there, yet she'd go to where you wouldn't expect to find her. If the Shiekah were anything besides private, they were manipulative.

Ganondorf was not planning to stop here anyway. The night was still young, and that left him plenty of time to return before the first citizen would emerge to see him. He reached the other side of the town, and climbed the steps of it, taking one at a time. The world was balance, and in order to balance it, Ganondorf had to take into account Death Mountain.

* * *

Prince Ganondorf stood expectantly at the mouth of the bridge to Hyrule. Around him the rest of the Gerudo women were standing about it, looking expectant. Nabooru was also there, but standing several metres away from the canyon, clenched onto Wayamad. Remaln was also there, a step behind and to the side of Ganondorf, but facing the ground with his hat's brim pulled firmly over his eyes. Ganondorf noticed Wayamad was flashing frustrated looks at him every few seconds. Marget was standing on the other side of Ganondorf, arms crossed and with a very discriminating expression on her face, which despite being aimed nowhere, still seemed to turn itself around and dive right into the soul of Remaln. It was a stare that could only be performed by a mother.

It had been two months since the beginning of the sending. The women would be coming back soon. In about fifteen minutes in fact. Nabooru couldn't wait to see her sisters again to tell them she was alright, and Ganondorf was hoping to see them too. It was the longest he had ever gone without seeing Reeta or Geta, besides from their first sending the year before. A special tradition of the sending is that nobody came back early after crossing the bridge. It was the whole summer, whether they travelled to Hyrule town or not. Sometimes girls would go to the other side of the bridge, and just sit and wait for a month. Occasionally one of the stronger women would throw them something to eat and drink across the ravine, but it wasn't rare for them to give up on waiting and head to Hyrule town, with or without direction.

The girls began to walk up past the stream and into the sight of Ganondorf and Remaln, being the tallest of the group. It was strange how quiet the fortress felt around the sending period, and the noise being created by the group made you realise why that was. Laughs, gossip and general banter was taking place, all in the same space as the girls. It was amazing that both could actually fit in the same spot.

Ganondorf was wearing some more 'Proper' clothes for the occasion. Generally he wore a black fabric shirt to any event being held within the Gerudo fortress, but today he wore the Gerudo battle armour. Generally it was hard leather made to surround as much of the Gerudo's body as possible, but it was somewhat modified to suit Ganondorf's rather heavier frame. In particular, it had metal protectors over his knees, elbows and neck, and they were all held into place with metal bolts. It looked heavy, and to start off it was, but over time Ganondorf didn't even notice it, in the same way a woman doesn't even notice they're wearing high-heeled shoes after some time. His long hair, which had grown past his neck, was being held back in a ponytail, but no matter what it seemed to spread out on his back.

The girls made hurried runs across the bridge, and, Nabooru and Ganondorf noticed were holding on the rails tighter then they did when they left. Mothers hugged their daughters, and back home welcomes were made. A few of them were already showing signs of pregnancy, which was the basic premise for the Sending.

Finally, the last of the group, two women who looked slightly older, or rather fuller, then Ganondorf remembered came running across the bridge. Reeta and Geta jumped off the final plank that made the bridge and sprinted across the sandy rocks leading towards the fortress. Ganondorf felt a subtle breeze of loneliness as they two ran right by him, one on each side. They ran up the small hill that Nabooru was standing on and enthusiastically tackle hugged her.

"Oh my god! Nabooru, I thought, we thought!-" They said quickly, and their tongues had to take their time catching up with their mouths. The hugging and small, frantic hops continued on for a few seconds, but then Reeta stopped and turned to Ganondorf, who, before this moment was feeling like wall paper standing in the middle of an open space. He walked up to him and looked up at him, with an inquiring look on her face. Ganondorf thought. It's not exactly like it's hard to recognise me in this crowd. And there was something different about Reeta. She was still wearing her make up, and, at least she didn't LOOK like she was pregnant… It was just the way she stood there, looking up at him…  
And that was it. She was looking up at him. Ganondorf suddenly felt a lot taller then he usually did, and that was probably one of the first times he felt proportionate to his height. Reeta was taller than him just a short month ago, and now Ganondorf was towering over her to some extent. But when he thought about it, he couldn't have grown that much over such a short time, could he? But he hadn't been able to create copies of himself by accident before she left either… Ganondorf kept the same confused face, even after realising this. Then Reeta smiled and grabbed him around the waist in a huge hug. Ganondorf's arms seemed to lose track of their surroundings and flop down by his sides. Reeta withdrew her body from Ganondorf's.

"I saw you jump back there Ganon, and, well…" She took in a deep breath, and stretched herself up to his ear. "We think it was very brave." She said sweetly.

Then she ran back to her mother. Marget was also with Geta, Nabooru and Wayamad, welcoming them back home, and then went to welcome back the others to the Fortress.

Remaln stood alone, arms crossed, hat tilted down and cape draped around his shoulders. His eyes were closed, and he didn't seem to be noticing any of the surroundings about him. And none of the surroundings noticed him. Even once he opened his eyes and stared intensely at Ganondorf, then Wayamad, then headed back to the Fortress, before anyone else, nothing seemed to take notice. And while anyone else would have walked the halls in order to come up with a plan to make things better go his way, but he already knew he already had everything he needed.

* * *

The next day, Ganondorf stood in the Gerudo stables, proudly combing Natasusemo's mane. The horse shook his head ticklishly, acting just like a young pony. This was the strange thing about Natasusemo, when running on track or doing jumps, it was like a soldier, stern, dependable and serious, but while off the track and inside the stables, it acted like a young child, happily excepting all praise and attention given to it. Ganondorf patted his face tenderly, then softly rested his head against it. He went through the conversation that took place yesterday, just after the return from the sending.

* * *

Wayamad was standing in front of him, on the other side of a table. She had that stern look in her eye, just the sort she gets when she hears about a new baby being born (to a midwife, it's business over pleasure), or hearing about Reeta and Geta coxing Nabooru into something immoral. "Ganondorf," she said calmly, "do you know what's coming soon, now that the sending is over?"

Ganondorf nodded, innocently, as usual. "My birthday." He said positively. He was amazed how childish it sounded, despite being the truth.

Wayamad nodded. He is simple, isn't he? She thought to herself. "Yes Ganondorf, that is true. "And which birthday is that?"

"My seventeenth." He replied simply. Without using sarcasm, that was the only real response. And Ganondorf did not know the first thing about sarcasm.

Still no reaction. Still the same happy, honest, confident face. 'Oh dear' thought Wayamad. "Ganondorf, you do know what that means, don't you?" He should, her mind whispered to her like some kind of secret, He's been told since he was old enough to understand it.

Ganondorf nodded in a way that corresponded perfectly with his expression. "My coronation." The same expression. Wayamad felt that she could blow air through one ear and have it come out the other. It was so blank, so blatant, so _innocent_.

"Ganondorf, you do realise what this means, don't you?"

"Yes…" Said Ganondorf. Of course he did, even Wayamad had told him on many occasions. The Gerudo weren't subtle with important matters. And this one was the most important of them all, for at least one hundred years. "It means I'm going to be king of the Gerudo." There was the slight impression of a question within the sentence, Wayamad noted.

"Yes, Ganondorf, and do you know what will happen at the coronation, don't you?" Said Wayamad, in an expectant manner.

Ganondorf stood up slightly straighter, getting tense. He knew what would happen, but what did she mean? "I'll, uh, get the crown?"

Wayamad sighed. He really wasn't getting this at all. "Yes, Ganondorf, but you'll be getting more then the crown, as important as it is." She put her hands down flat on the table, and stared straight into Ganondorf, so concentrated that you could almost see the energy given off by it. "You'll be given the responsibility of leading the Gerudo. That means that things will have to change, but only if you say they should change. It means no more playing around Ganondorf, it means that from tomorrow onwards you control us, me, you, Marget, the children, the Gerudo's Destiny!" The echo of the word surrounded Ganondorf, and pushed him like a rag doll in a whirlpool.

* * *

And the echo was continuing on, even as he slowly realised it was a day later, and he was in the stables, with his head pressed softly against Natasusemo's. The horse rubbed his brow fragilely, but Ganondorf hardly stirred. His hand automatically began to brush Natasusemo's mane.

The Gerudo's Destiny. As Ganondorf thought about it more and more, it became obvious that in this situation, the capital letter on Destiny was essential. Without it, it was just another thing, but it wasn't a thing, it was a being. It changed as time went on. It walked, it ran, it strived to survive, like anything else that possesses a soul. And now I'm in charge of it, thought Ganondorf. Generally people think that it isn't fair when they realise something like this, but Ganondorf instead figured it was fair like this. He was born to lead the Gerudo. Everyone said so. Wasn't being the only male proof enough? And in order for it to be fair, he had to lead them, like any of the past kings, right?

Then, why do I have this knot in my stomach? He asked himself.

The doors to the stables were pushed open forcefully but carefully, in the way of someone who has to do it every day of her life.

Meriane stood lacklustre in the doorway, with the same faint grin on her face she had whenever she went to the stables. She walked slowly down the rows of the horses she tended to everyday, giving them slight glances to see if anything was wrong. She didn't notice Ganondorf until she almost bumped into him.

"Oh, Ganon…" She said, feeling embarrassed. She still had the particular idea of respect for monarchy, and that respect was they were only to be touched if you were sick of having to go through day-to-day life. They'd be making sure you'd never have to put up with days again, or nights for that matter. But whenever she was with Ganondorf she realised exactly how stupid it was, Ganondorf wouldn't, lest he couldn't hurt a fly. He didn't have it in him, but ever since that day with the bull…

She knew she was to never mention it, but somehow it always jumped into her mind when she was with him, but not because he reminded her of it. If anything, if was because he didn't, because what did… That to the bull had to be a totally different person from the Ganon she knew now. She knew that, she reassured herself.

Ganondorf lifted his head, in a shocked and dazed fashion. "Huh? Oh, Meriane, it's you…" He said, and drifted away. Meriane was too old to go on the sending anymore, and showed signs of wrinkles around her eyes and lips, but she still retained her youthful appearance, like most Gerudo women. She had a daughter of her own anyway, so she couldn't afford to go on the sending. They didn't tell girls about what actually happened on it until they were about twelve anyway, and making them curious is always a bad step. But like most women, Gerudo or otherwise, her eyes stayed the same. Seeing him lay his head against Natasusemo's brow made them shine in the knowing way she always had with horses. And an important addition to any trade, she realised, was how people reacted to them.

She walked over to the side of the stable keep that Natasusemo took up. She noticed how nice of a coat that he had, especially for the desert conditions it grew up in. Despite being the son of the warhorse of Mertey, who had also died in… The incident, it was uncanny for a horse ridden so often to gleam like that. It showed that this boy really loved his horse.

"So, Ganondorf, big day coming up for you, eh?" She proclaimed casually. She took care to sound as nice and normal as possible when asking this.

Ganondorf nodded solemnly. He kept his head pressed gently against Natasusemo's.

"And it's going to hold an even bigger event for you, isn't it?" She said, innocently and curiously.

Ganondorf nodded his head again in an even more solemn manner. He felt inclined to speak. He knew he should. The word still rang in his ears. 'Destiny…'

"Meriane…" He said, turning his head slightly to her, but keeping his face on Natasusemo's. "What is destiny to you?"

Meriane was slightly taken back by this. She hadn't expected a question of this magnitude. However, unlike thousands of other people of the world, she knew what to say. "The horses have a legend." She said. Ganondorf didn't even have to think, this was Meriane, she made sure her daughter would be able to ride before she could walk; it was only natural that her philosophy would revolve around horses. "I've spent my whole life around the horses here. I grew up around them, and they grew up around me. I know that you and everyone else in the fortress is confident in the idea that they make up my life. But, whenever I used to go off on the sending, I never felt homesick…" Her eyes were misty. They were seeing something Ganondorf couldn't even imagine. "I found out something the first time I was there. I wasn't really interested in any of the boys, not for that time, so I spent most of my days just outside the town where all the other girls were. There was just a huge pen that the men there told me that a man from the castle owned. He kept horses in it during the day. They just ran, all the time. Their coats were different from the horses here, all red or brown with white on their feet." Ganondorf surveyed the horses inside the stable. Most of them were black or just white. "But they were the same. The exact same as the horses here. They just wanted to run, or be ridden. Meanwhile, the other women in Hyrule, well, we didn't have much in common, I'll tell you that. But the horses were the exact same. When I grew a little older and brought my horse, the owner let me put it in the pen with all the other horses. And they treated it exactly the same. She just ran with all the others, like she wasn't any different." She looked down slightly and closed her eyes, practically isolating herself from the world. "And I realised she wasn't. She ran like any other horse out there. That's where I got my idea. Horses just want to run. That's their destiny." She said, and looked back at Ganondorf. "They don't care about wealth, or health or even what's possible and what's not. They just want to run for as much of their life as possible. To cover the whole world! That's their destiny. True and simple." She pushed herself off the wall, and began to check the rest of the horses. "I suppose that's why I like horses. They're so, so simple compared to us. We have to make events and ceremonies just to make a year run properly, but horses just live through the day and rest for it at night. It's the way I really believe that the Gerudo should live…" And she turned to leave, and pulled the great doors closed behind her.

Ganondorf had a lot of thoughts going through his head. About simplicity, about responsibility, about destiny, but in a way that happened often to Ganondorf, one question stuck out in his mind.

'The women in Hyrule are different?'

* * *

Ganondorf stood in his room, straightening his best white gown. In honesty, he didn't like it, but he didn't quite hate it either. It was the type of pure, kind, defenceless white that often turns up on bridal dresses, and it had gold trimming around the cuffs and neck. A pattern of words in old Gerudo decorated the shoulders and back. They were supposed to be a tribute to the new king of the Gerudo, but Ganondorf couldn't make heads or tails of it. He tucked in the cuffs, because it started to go over his hands. He wondered how big the Gerudo kings really used to be when this was first made. He had just grown half a foot in less than a month, and it was almost too small for him, except for the arms. Ganondorf tied his hair back in a ponytail. It shined in its bright yet light red, just like any Gerudo hair. Even as he put his ceremonial gown on to become king, he wondered if he really was that different. I mean, of course I'm male, he thought, but I'm not really that unlike them, am I? I'm still Gerudo, they always say…

"How are you feeling Ganondorf?" Said Remaln.

Ganondorf turned in a spin. Remaln was standing in the corner, with his arms crossed. His hat was tilted up slightly, as he looked at Ganondorf. Ganondorf hadn't heard him come in, but that was probably because he was lost in thought. But the door was closed, and he hadn't even heard it open or shut, but of course Remaln had used it. 'I was just lost in thought' Ganondorf reassured himself.

"Uh, tense." Said Ganondorf. He felt the sweat on his palms for the first time that night when he said that.

Remaln smiled sleekly. "I suppose that's to be expected. It's not often that someone is crowned king. Even rarer for the Gerudo, I suppose."

Ganondorf remained silent for a second. Basically a second. "How often does Hyrule have a new king?"

Remaln looked down. His hat seemed to follow his movement on its own accord and went over his eyes. "I think I'll be able to tell you that all in good time Ganondorf."

He walked over to Ganondorf and placed a hand on his shoulder. Ganondorf didn't know why, but the second he did this his whole body felt numb. "Anyway, it's about time to get moving, isn't it? Might as well make your way down." And then, without a sound, he was gone.

Ganondorf felt the numbness leave his body first of all, then he noticed the weight on his shoulder was gone. His eyes then adjusted to the fact that Remaln wasn't in front of him anymore. He spun around the room, but he wasn't there. Was he there in the first place? He turned to the door, and it was closed.

He walked over to it, slowly, and reached out a hand. Sweat dripped from it, and landed silently on the ground. He pulled the door open. Nothing. Not even footsteps in the dust.

* * *

Ganondorf ran down the stairs in a rather unroyal manner. His cape was only half attached to his robe, so he was trying to pull it around and pin it in with the tiny pins used for the occasion at the same time as trying to slide on his boots while running down three flights of stairs. He ended up in a pile at the bottom of the second flight with the cape over his head, the pin half way in his back, but at least his boots were on. He made another rush down the stairs, this time getting his cape on and keeping his balance. He almost blew himself into the Gerudo Main Hall.

It was by far the biggest room in the fortress. Its walls opposite to Ganondorf seemed very far away for something indoors, despite being in it several times. This room was only used to present something to the entire Gerudo population, or for children to hide from angry mothers. Ganondorf had been in here almost immediately after his birth. The entire fortress was flooded with rumours, and you could say that being displayed naked in front of the entire community kind of confirmed them. Then he was in there again several times during his youth, three of which were to hide from Marget and Wayamad (he only hid from Wayamad however because Reeta and Geta were doing it), but also once to be officially titled as the Prince of the Gerudo. He was four years old then. Thirteen long years had finally led to this, he thought.

Reeta and Geta ran up to him, giggling slightly. They jumped up onto him and wrapped their arms around his neck, dragging his head down slightly. They were wearing their best red and blue gowns for the occasion, but no makeup, Ganondorf noticed. It was rare to get a glimpse of them without any makeup, and it made it difficult to tell which was which without it on, but the robes gave it away. They were a simple piece of elaborate fabric, silk in this case, wrapped around the body under the shoulders and just below the knees, then tied with a sash around the waist, which Reeta and Geta had put a large bow on the back of. Nabooru stood behind them and waved meekly yet politely. Nabooru wore white, just the same as Ganondorf's.

Marget walked up to him, and nodded kindly, with a proud smile on her face. She raised her arm in a guiding fashion, and held him by the hand. Ganondorf held her grip and walked around her, Marget still standing in the same spot but turning in co-ordination with how Ganondorf was moving. Ganondorf looked ahead of him. Wayamad and Troto stood at the end of a path, created by the rows on either side of Gerudos, looking at him expectantly.

"Ganondorf…" Said Marget. "It's time."

Ganondorf remained silent, but nodded weakly. He felt so small; so many people looking at him, despite none of them being taller then his neck. The windows blew in a subtle breeze, and his cape wafted through it. He began to walk slowly down the path. He looked at the crowds of Gerudo. He realised silently that in some point in his life, he had spoken to them all. He could recognise most of their faces immediately, and the others he could piece together through experience. But now, he noticed they were looking at him differently. They weren't looking at him like the clumsy child he sometimes was. They weren't looking at him as the child who played the beautiful song and then had shut it out of his life forever. They weren't looking at the child who had saved a friend's life from a bull, but by doing something so horrible it was never spoken of again. They weren't looking at the only boy within the fortress. What were they looking at?

Ganondorf's feet moved slowly and automatically, and then he looked behind him. Marget was smiling at him with the large, motherly eyes she always had when she was proud of him. Reeta and Geta were smiling at him happily with eyes full of praise, and weren't even lifting up their heads to him. They were just looking at him, straight at him. Nabooru was looking slightly towards the ground, but then faced up towards him with the gladdest smile he believed he would ever see. She didn't have her eyes open, but somehow he knew she was looking at him as much as any of the others.

He looked back and scanned the crowds. There was one face he couldn't see, and he knew it would stand out. But then he looked beyond the crowds, and to the wall on his far right. Remaln was slouching against it distantly, and looking as confident as ever. Then he looked up at him and smiled. It wasn't the smirk he usually used, that made Ganondorf feel somewhat lesser then him, but it was a real smile, that he could have sworn was tinted with admiration. Then he realised what they were looking at.

He faced forward, directly towards Troto, who was holding something proudly in her hands. The candlelight gleamed off it, and seemed to radiate a light of its own. They were looking at the new King of the Gerudo.

Ganondorf stopped seamlessly in his walk in front of Troto. She was standing on a step above him, and when she looked down on him and smiled silently. It was the type of smile that causes the area around it to stand silent as to see if it was making a noise. She closed her eyes, then drew the item in her hands above her head and then began to bring it down, slowly, lightly.

Ganondorf felt it touch his head for the first time. It was metal, and obviously hadn't been out in the sun for a long time, but he could swear it felt warm against his brow. He felt it rest on his head, and it even felt like there was a type of click that came from it the moment it rested on his head. Troto opened her eyes and looked at Ganondorf. The amber jewels, thick, untainted diamonds of which could be found only in the Gerudo Desert shone off the candlelight upon Ganondorf's head. The metal that held them together was polished to perfection, but it still paled in comparison to the jewels. In fact, at that moment Troto thought, the only thing that matched them was Ganondorf himself.

The New King Ganondorf turned to the crowd, and a roar erupted from the Gerudo, flowed by fast claps. Ganondorf stood before them, silent, with his cape blowing through the air, a smile gripping onto his face and his crown shining off the light.

* * *

The crowd that formed the path broke apart and began chatting amongst themselves. Marget, Reeta and Geta ran to Ganondorf. Reeta and Geta jumped upon his neck as they had done before. "Oh gods, Ganondorf, that was great, that was just, great!" was the general message they tried to get across within frantic praise. They stepped down and the Marget hugged Ganondorf, and he hugged her back. They were both smiling. Then Nabooru came through the crowd, and looked meekly at Ganondorf.

"Ganie…" She said, and then looked up. Her eyes were almost brimming with tears. It was then that Ganondorf realised how much of a romantic she really was. She hugged him around the waist, tightly, and Ganondorf hugged back. She then let go, at the same time Ganondorf did. Wayamad came and nodded happily to Ganondorf.

"Well, congratulations to the New King." She said. You could really feel the capital letters in Wayamad's speech. "That was marvellous Ganon." Troto came up behind her.

"You'd do the old kings proud, I'll tell you that." She said happily. If present supports history, Troto was automatically glad for anything.

Ganondorf felt overwhelmed, but in a welcome, happy way. He wondered if he really did deserve this. He touched the crown on his head. It still felt warm.

"I'm so proud of you Ganondorf." Said Marget.

Ganondorf smiled and nodded, then felt caught off guard. He glanced around the room. He looked to the wall where Remaln was previously. He was still up against the wall, same pose but looking down at the ground.

Ganondorf broke off from the group. He looked back, and they appeared a bit distraught by this, but then they realised where they were going. Wayamad's expression became worried, but Ganondorf didn't see.

He stood in front of Remaln, who looked up at him silently. No, at right up at Ganondorf's face. It tilted towards his forehead, but then quickly went down to his face. "That was quite the spectacle Ganondorf." He said, in a cold, unemotional fashion. It wasn't mean or ignorant, but it was just… unwelcome.

"Uh, yeah." Said Ganondorf. He felt the mood drop when he came to Remaln's face. The chatting and sounds of the crowd seemed to become noticeably quieter and more distanced as he stood near Remaln.

"So, this means you're the king now, doesn't it?" He said. The words seemed so cold they grew icicles off them.

"Yes." He said. "Now that I'm seventeen, and I've got the crown, I'm officially king of the Gerudo." He felt like this wasn't really the end to the statement. "So, what do you think?" He said expectantly.

"Good." He said. It felt warmer than the previous words, but then again, so did the icecaps. "That's good, Ganondorf. That's very good." Remaln felt out of place complimenting him. He didn't like these occasions when everyone smiled for all the same basic reason. It was all too simple. And he dared to say that before he let one escape from him, but he ignored it. "Do you know what the others have asked me to do?"

Ganondorf did and didn't at the same time. They told him to teach him to be a man, but he knew that wasn't what he meant.

"They want me to go back to Hyrule now, Ganondorf." He said plainly, but the words carried more weight than they showed. Ganondorf was taken back, but not so much shocked. It was true, he knew that the women didn't look upon him favourably, but to send him away, without even word to Ganondorf.

"What? What are you going to do?" He asked. He felt as though a little part of his world had been ripped away from him, and he didn't even know what part it was.

Remaln looked down again. He seemed to drift off into his own little world, dragging only Ganondorf with him. "I'm heading off tomorrow." He said. Ganondorf felt the window of his mind shatter. He was leaving? Just like that? Was he planning to even tell me before now? Don't I matter to him _at all?_ "And I believe you should come with me." And then the window of his mind's frame widened.

"What?" He said nervously. He wasn't expecting that in his wildest dreams. "Come outside the desert? With you?" He wasn't sure if he didn't want it. The great Oasis… He could go there.

"If you wish." Remaln said. "You're the king now; you have the choice of what you do. You could go to Hyrule and stop this dispute that has gone on for so long, that has broken apart these people, but only if you wish to. It is now as you choose, so I can't tell you, and neither," he waved his hand toward the crowd, "can they."

Ganondorf thought about this. It was his choice, wasn't it? He was king, he had to make the decisions, he had to choose the destiny for the Gerudo, and it was his choice…

Then why don't I feel like I have a say in the matter? He thought.

Wayamad and Marget nudged their way through the crowd. Wayamad was holding Nabooru's hand and dragging her along too. Later, she didn't actually know why she did this. Her hand was there already, and seeing Ganondorf with Remaln didn't leave enough thinking time to let go. She didn't care what Remaln was talking to Ganondorf about, she knew that it couldn't be good.

"Remaln!" Said Wayamad "What are you telling Ganondorf?" Frustration breathed through her words.

Remaln looked up at her and stood away from the wall. He tried to make an effort not to stand over her. "Nothing you haven't told me." His hat tilted up, and Wayamad got a full view of his eyes. They appeared calm, but behind them a fire was building up.

"Mother…" Said Ganondorf. "I'm going."

"What?" Said Marget "But it's still early, I thought you'd like to stay up for-"

"I'm going to Hyrule." He said. You could feel the full stop at its end vibrate through the air. Marget's eyes opened wide, with shock and desperation.

"What, why? Why? You don't need to go there!" She said, and felt herself draw in breath. "There's no reason!" She screamed, and the entire hall turned to face the group. Nabooru stood back. Ganondorf could see her shaking.

Wayamad turned to Remaln. "You told him, didn't you? Didn't you? You made him want to leave!" She began to pull back a fist, and as she went to lunge she felt her arm pull her body back. Ganondorf was holding her fist. She felt her feet leave the ground, but Ganondorf pulled her up, and let her regain her footing. The entire crowd was gawking at them.

Wayamad turned to Ganondorf, her eyes wide and shock stricken. "What? Ganondorf? Why?"

Ganondorf looked down at her, and released her fist. She drew it back to her and rubbed it, trying to get feeling back into it. Nabooru went to stand by her and put a hand on her shoulder. Reeta and Geta came running through the crowds. They saw Wayamad rubbing her fist, they saw Ganondorf's hand still in the basic position that it was when he held her fist, they saw Nabooru's eyes begin to brim with tears of shock, but they stayed put. Perhaps they were too scared to move.

Wayamad saw Ganondorf's eyes. They were different from before… It was like the jewels within the crown reflected off them… "I choose to go. It wasn't Remaln's choice." He turned to his mother. "It was mine." He circled around to the whole of the Gerudo faction, none of them able to believe their ears. "I want to go to Hyrule to find out about the world. I want to go to learn about how the world I'm not supposed to see works. I want to connect the Gerudo and the Hyrulians." He realised he had never even thought of this word before… Hyrulians… it sounded strangely correct. "And I'm going to do this as King of the Gerudo." And he turned to Wayamad. For the first time in her life, she saw Ganondorf's eyes draw cold. "The leader of the Destiny of the Gerudo."

A silence trembled through the Gerudo. It was like having a bell strike its time, vibrated its hit, but nothing but silence of the same volume as the ring comes out. And, despite the fact they weren't talking, weren't moving, some were barely even breathing, they were all contributing to the sheer volume of the silence.

Remaln pushed himself away from the wall, and began stepping towards the door. His footsteps echoed through the hall, seeming to bounce off the silence. All the Gerudo turned to face him as he walked through the crowd, but he didn't look back at any of them. He pushed the door open, which did so with a creek, and closed it lightly, but the sound of it spread out amongst the room.

And then, when they turned back, Ganondorf was gone. Wayamad had to have a lie down, and Marget burst out in tears.

* * *

Ganondorf was walking quickly through the desert. His mind was working on automatic, and it stopped the winds around him from picking up the sand. He didn't even notice. His mind was racing, all the same. Was that right of him to do? What will happen when I get back to the Fortress? Will I even go back? The more frustrated he got, the further apart the sand in front of him seemed to spread before he even stepped on it. The magic was reacting to his anger.

He did not know why he was angry. He blamed himself. I shouldn't have done that to them, he told himself. But it was my choice. I made it! Me! The King of the Gerudo! I'm in charge of their destiny, and if Hyrule can help it, then I'll go to Hyrule. I'm not going to be stepped on again.

He was nearing the temple. Strange, it felt so much further away when I first came here…

The sand behind him was in dunes five feet high, following his footsteps, and he hadn't noticed. His feet weren't the only things moving him.

As he moved closer to the temple, he saw the pillar of sand the Phantom had made. It looked considerably different… It had sand cut out in certain places around it. In fact, thought Ganondorf, it kind of looks like Old Geru-

And it was.

Letters three feet high, the Phantom had written on the pillar. Ganondorf tried to read it, but from what he could make out, it seemed like random gibberish… But when he looked at it from top to bottom, instead of side to side, it seemed to make some sense…

'Purpose Defines Those That Live.'

* * *

He pushed the door open, and found the Phantom crouching in his corner, surrounded by books. He was currently reading one that Ganondorf had seen him read through before. Now he was just skipping through the pages, but by the looks of how his eyes moved, he was reading every single word. His once purely white clothes were now covered and stained by sand. The sand had worn through his gloves, and the palms of his hands were worn through… But he couldn't see any blood. As usual, he didn't notice that Ganondorf had entered.

"Hello." Said Ganondorf, as he sat next to the Phantom.

The Phantom grunted. Whenever Ganondorf was near, he acted like he wished one of them didn't exist. Which one was up to anyone's guess.

Ganondorf felt the silence pass by. It was like the wind. You couldn't see it, but you could feel as it passed by. And, just like the wind, it brought change afterwards.

"I'm going to be leaving for a while after tonight."

The Phantom nodded solemnly. There was no emotion involved. It then turned to Ganondorf and looked at him. "What's that on your forehead?"

Ganondorf felt his hand rise to the jewellery that now fitted his forehead. "Oh…" Said Ganondorf. He was amazed at himself that he had forgotten about it. "It's my crown. It says that I'm one of the kings of the Gerudo now."

The Phantom scanned the crown. He turned his head side to side to get a look under it. "Where?" He asked.

"Where what?"

"Where does it say that?"

Ganondorf paused. He didn't know. Where did it say that? Was it symbolism? Was it like a sign? Why does it say that?

"Uh… I don't think it does. People just think of it like that…" Ganondorf said. He felt his voice shaking without him realising.

"Oh." Said the Phantom. There was no desperation for another answer in this. "What do people think when they see you then?"

Another pause, this one longer, and somehow more powerful then the last. Do they see the King of the Gerudo, like when he walking down the hall to the crown? Do they see Ganondorf, the only male born within 100 years? Or do they see the boy that did that to the… No. They couldn't see that. But now… Do they see someone who is leaving? Betraying? Defecting?

"… I don't know." Said Ganondorf.

The Phantom didn't move. "When will you be back?"

"I don't know. Perhaps a few months."

"What about home?" Said the Phantom. "Isn't that where you're supposed to belong?" Some kind of passion entered his voice. It was soft, but Ganondorf was sure it was there.

"… Sometimes, you find that you belong… Elsewhere." He got up to leave. He felt that he didn't like where this was going. So far everything the Phantom had asked him scared him. He barely knew any of the answers. "But I'll be back. That's a thing about home. You always come back." And he closed the temple door behind him. The Phantom kept reading. Ganondorf never questioned how the torch above the Phantom's head was lit.

* * *

The Great King Ganondorf was standing in the throne room to the Goron's leader. He was quite pleased with himself, despite feeling too arrogant to take notice at this time. Darunia was standing in front of it, looking enraged. His muscles that covered his arms like small mountains rippled at Ganondorf, a Goron sign of a challenge. The Goron was not young anymore; his yellow skin had begun to become faded, and the scales crusted. His hair, while it was rare for Gorons to have large amounts of hair, was becoming slowly bald, and he had grown a large beard out in front of his face as if it make up for it. His hard, shell-like back was softening, ever so slowly. Once it had been hard enough to smash boulders, now the skin around it sagged, ever so slightly. He wouldn't survive if he tried to fight Ganondorf now, and they both knew this.

Ganondorf stood in front of him, and stared. Not through him, not around him, but straight at him. It was as if a nuclear explosion was centred in on a fly. The Goron was lifted off his legs and thrown against the throne. There was no flash of light, no dramatic scream or grunt from Ganondorf. Darunia felt his back almost break, despite the shell around it.

He forced his eyes open to see what Ganondorf was doing. He was still standing there, in the exact same pose. The only thing around him moving was his cape. But the truly scary thing to Darunia was, there was no wind.

"Why didn't the others… Tell me?" He groaned.

Ganondorf looked at him, stared right into him. Then the old Goron blinked to block him out, and when he opened his eyes again Ganondorf was standing directly in front of him. He didn't even hear footsteps.

"Because none of them saw me." He said, and lifted the Goron off his feet, and brought him to the outside of the room. They were still inside the cave, inside the main spiral that made up the Goron city. The separate levels all housed Gorons, going about their daily business, and hadn't seen Ganondorf when he made his way down. He threw the Goron on the ground harshly, and the echo of the clump boomed around the caves. All the Gorons turned to look at Ganondorf, and their crippled leader at his feet. Ganondorf turned to Darunia and smiled slyly. "And they won't even see me now." And then he was gone.

Darunia pushed himself off the ground and quickly stared around him. There was no sign of the dark king, but then he looked up at the levels of the Gorons. The Gorons suddenly disappeared, one by one, in a cloud of near invisible dust, and the Gorons didn't even look like they had time to react. There was a slight whirring sound through the air, which was like nothing like what Darunia had ever heard before. It was like a jet engine running through dirt. Then they were all gone. And Ganondorf was standing right next to Darunia again, with the same smile.

He picked up Darunia and thrust him against the wall. "Listen," he said "I've put all the Gorons in the fire temple. I know about your kind, and it'll take years for them to die from starvation. However, there is something there that will likely speed up the dying process. I suggest you try and stop it, if you can." He said, and dropped Darunia onto the ground.

He was suddenly back up the top of the spiral down, in front of the entrance. He moved to leave, but then heard a sound. Something was moving in the shadows. Ganondorf turned quickly and grabbed the small Goron by the throat. It looked at him with its huge blue eyes and trembled pathetically. Ganondorf was amazed and enraged with himself that he missed one. And that he hadn't seen this one before.

"Who are you? What is your name?" He asked him, in tones that burned into the Goron's soul. His grip was gradually tightening around the skin that connected his head to the body, as the Gorons generally lacked a neck. Tears began welling up in its eyes.

"My name's…" He gasped. Ganondorf loosened his grip slightly, so that he could speak easier, but without it seeming like he stopped pressuring his throat. It choked, but then managed to breathe out the word. "Link…"

Ganondorf's eyes widened. He then threw the little Goron onto the ground, and kicked it, all in one motion. The Goron curled up into a ball.

"Run, little Goron. Run lest I catch you." He said coldly, and the Goron began spinning in his little ball, in the way that Gorons used to attack and to run, their spindly legs not being able to support them over a long distance. Ganondorf could still hear it whimper, and saw Darunia as he ran back into his throne room. Then he walked out of the cave, and back towards Kakariko village. The little Goron kept spinning, even after knocking itself onto a lower level. That was something Ganondorf almost admired about the Gorons, they didn't have the imagination to believe that he had left. But he knew his night was not over yet.


	14. Chapter 13: Hyrule

Chapter Thirteen: Hyrule

The Great King Ganondorf again passed through Kakariko village without anyone noticing, which had become a simple practise. Nobody even came out at night-time anymore, all perhaps afraid. Perhaps they were afraid of him, walking around the village in the middle of the night. However, human nature suggested that if they thought he'd walk around their village at night, they'd be out protecting themselves by leaving the places where they could be safe from him. At least, where they believed they were safe from him.

But no, they knew, or at least, they believed that if Ganondorf ever came by any of them, they wouldn't even have time to scream. In all honesty, Ganondorf decided, they were afraid that there might be something to fear outside and they didn't want to know what it was, but they were confident in the idea it would be frightening.

Ganondorf walked down the steps one by one again. He didn't even imagine skipping one. Then he reached the bank of the river. He moved a foot out onto the water, and felt as it rested on the surface. He moved his other foot and felt it bob in the water for a second, then rest on it as well. The water on his boot had drained itself and rested back into the river. Then he set off down Hyrule River.

This was often a trying travel, meaning that message takers that usually rode horses had to track their own way down the river and swim half the way. He saw how unneeded that was now. Water now presented to him the same trials of land. However, as he reached the first of the small falls that created the natural stairway to the Zora, the waterborne inhabitants of Hyrule, he remembered that on ground, the only things to jump up at you from under it were the easily dispatched creatures of the night. Often, guards to a kingdom do not ambush either.

Two Zora held him by the ankles, the rest of their body under the water. They spoke. The Zora had the uncanny and almost disturbing ability to speak clearly even while underwater, because to them, water did not clog their air intake, only their gills. "We've got you Ganondorf! We knew that you'd be coming for us sooner or later! Now you come with us." And they tugged at his boots. Ganondorf felt them begin to pull him, but he stood still. He did not come under the water.

It was a common, and effective, tactic made by the Zora, to pull their enemies under the water while they cannot accurately attack them. And that was why Ganondorf knew what to do in case of it.

He jumped. The Zoras, caught off guard by the fact that Ganondorf could not be pulled under the water, were still holding onto his boots. Most people when jumping can manage about three to four feet at most, or perhaps only a foot when being dragged down by the weight of two creatures, however light they are compared to humans. Ganondorf jumped high enough to pull them both completely out of the water, and he moved his legs inward, causing the Zora's heads to collide. Their grip on his ankles stopped, and one fell wordlessly into the water, and disappeared with a splash. He rested at the bottom of the river, bubbles coming out of his headtail, a disturbing yet useful feature of the Zora. Ganondorf quickly grabbed the other Zora by the headtail and then landed again on the water. He did not even create a splash, unlike the feet of the Zora, which created ripples on the surface. Ganondorf raised the Zora to his face.

"I could kill you right now." He said coldly. It wasn't a threat, it was merely a statement. And neither doubted it. The Zora began to grow whiter and reached up to Ganondorf's hands to try and make him release his grip. The Zora never breathed through their mouths, it was merely a device for talking in their point of view, but their tail provided the airways. He began to punch Ganondorf's hands in a pathetic manner. Then his arms fell down beside him.

His eyes were closed, but Ganondorf could see them moving behind the eyelids. His lips began to tremble.

"Can you still hear me?" He said closer to his face. The tone of voice was like a brick hitting the Zora's face. The Zora nodded feebly. "Good." There was no satisfaction to be heard. "Are there any more guards down this river?" No reaction. Ganondorf tightened his grip. The Zora's body tensed up harshly, his limbs flailed wildly for a second, and then sagged. He weakly shook his head. "I want you to come to your people's home with me. You will not struggle; you will not question why I'm doing this. Do you understand?" Another weak nod.

Ganondorf reached below the water to where the unconscious Zora was lying. He picked him up by the headtail in the same manner of the first one, and pulled him out of the water. His arm was still completely dry. And he began his walk down the Hyrule River again. There were no ripples behind him.

* * *

Ganondorf was out the front of the Fortress, saddling up Natasusemo. The sand was blowing slowly through the fortress grounds, blowing up a little sand that didn't get higher than Ganondorf's boots. Remaln stood several metres away from him. The Gerudo were surrounding Ganondorf, talking to him quickly and loudly.

What confused Ganondorf were they were all wishes of good luck. Some handed him food for the journey, and gave him encouraging pats on the back. After last night, he expected a somewhat colder send off. Marget, Wayamad and Nabooru were nowhere to be seen, and had avoided him the last night after he came back from the temple. Reeta and Geta however didn't seem to hesitate, mostly because they were bursting to the ears with questions.

"Ganondorf, when are you going to come back?" Said Reeta. Ganondorf opened his mouth, but was then interrupted.

"What are you going to do in Hyrule?" Said Geta, in the exact same tones as her sister. This happened so often Ganondorf questioned why he tried to answer the first question.

But their voices were different… They weren't as, as fun as they were before. These voices seemed anxious… Concerned. They made Ganondorf feel uneasy, they never seemed to be truly concerned with much… But after last night…

"I'll be back in a few months, I suppose." He said to Reeta. Both of them nodded. As for the other question, Ganondorf found himself asking it. He wasn't exactly sure, but he felt like it was his responsibility to the Gerudo, but this didn't feel like the correct answer to give. "And I suppose I'll know about why once I get there." He knew they wouldn't be satisfied with this answer, but they didn't even begin to pout. They didn't even appear ready to mimic each other's voices… They weren't acting as they usually would.

Then Ganondorf heard hurried footsteps through the sand. It was Nabooru, holding something. Ganondorf was amazed how small she looked now… It was like looking down onto a child. Nabooru didn't look happy, and was glancing down into the sand. She wouldn't look Ganondorf in the eye.

"Uh, Ganie..." She said. She seemed hesitant to say what she was trying to. "Uh, mother and Marget say they don't feel like coming down at the moment, but they want to wish you good luck, and uh, hope you get back soon and-" She said in a very fast and nervous voice. She still wouldn't look at Ganondorf. She looked down at her hands and then held out the package quickly.

"Um, Marget made this for you just before you go so if, uh…" And she trailed off, and looked in-between her arms straight down to the ground. Sweat was beading off her forehead, and while this was common within the desert, Ganondorf could see them shaking slightly, even if the rest of her body didn't. Ganondorf carefully picked the package out of Nabooru's grip. Her arms floated for a moment, then she saw them and slammed them back down on her sides. Ganondorf slowly undid the string around the small, smooth box. He looked inside, and pulled out what was inside. It blew lightly in the wind as Ganondorf held it up for inspection. It was a cape.

It was made on some tough fabric and displayed designs of red and green on the back. They were the designs that Marget always used to use. A simple square missing its middle and connecting onto another of a different colour. In the middle of it was a particular sign that Ganondorf could not recognise. Without a word, he folded it simply and placed it back within the box. "Thank you, Nabooru." He said. She continued looking down. Her fists clenched and began to shake, but she stood still. Ganondorf could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She was always emotional, but now she seemed to be keeping in her tears. She didn't want Ganondorf to see. Ganondorf knew this, yet he did nothing. He knew he wouldn't be staying at the fortress, after last night, he had to go to Hyrule.

Without a word, he put the box in his pack and mounted Natasusemo, and set off. Remaln was already walking. Nabooru still did not cry.

Behind them, some of the girls were playing with toy balls of all different sizes and patterns, which had mysteriously turned up not long ago. Nobody even thought to question where they had got them.

* * *

Ganondorf felt as though he was leaving a little part of himself behind in the sand. He knew he was on Natasusemo, feeling as the wind gently pushing against his face, but something of him was still standing at the fortress, watching the crowd split and depart, and staying with Nabooru.

But he wasn't. He was leaving, slowly drawing further and further away from the Fortress of which he had called home for so many years, having Natasusemo take the bridge from the Fortress carefully, step by step, and crossing a small gully with a piece of wood mounted lacklustre to carry horses and people across, and heading out to a small rock surface, and over looking great plains of grass, sun, and water. He was seeing what he was never meant to see.

And he was seeing it on his own free will.

Natasusemo gently walked down the dead land that was the entrance to the Gerudo Desert. Ganondorf felt many things as they took their first step onto the grass. He felt independent. He felt diplomatic. He felt _important_. Yet after these few moments of glory, he realised he felt cold. He began to feel his body shivering uncontrollably, and his teeth began to chatter. And he realised he was only three steps out of the desert.

"Uh, Remaln?" He said, trying to stop his teeth from accidentally crushing his tongue. Remaln turned to look at him, under the brim of his hat. He wasn't shaking at all; in fact he looked quite smug.

"Hmm? What is it Ganondorf?" He said plainly, without any emotion linked to it. "Oh yes." He said as he saw the shaking. "That'll last for a while. I've always noticed how hot the desert is compared to Hyrule. That's just the different climates."

Ganondorf wrapped his red cloak around him, and began to walk along after Remaln, Natasusemo doing a calm trot. The horse didn't appear to even notice that he was now walking on earth instead of sand. And really, thought Ganondorf, it didn't even look like it mattered.

"Remaln?" He said. "Does it always get this cold in Hyrule?"

Remaln continued walking, not missing a step. While his step was casual, slow and calm, he still seemed able to keep ahead of the horse. And magic didn't look as though it was at work here. "No, it often gets much hotter during summer. Right now it's autumn." Remaln then realised who he was talking to again. "Which means it's between summer and winter." The Gerudo at least knew those two. After you realise that the seasons don't change the land around you too much in the desert, you begin to forget that the other seasons existed, but summer and winter were kept because it's important to remember if the year is beginning or finishing. "But I can remember the nights get a lot colder in the desert, do they not?"

Ganondorf paused, and looked up. They did, didn't they? What was the difference now? Then the sun's glare blocked out his gaze, and forced him to stop staring at the sky. He rubbed his eyes, but then he realised that was it.

"The sun. The sun isn't up during night in the desert. When the sun's up, I think it's supposed to be hot."

Remaln was shocked, but in a quiet, solemn way. He had figured it out so quickly? It had taken a Priest of Hyrule a good few months of study to figure it out once. But, he remembered, that priests were very complicated thinkers, and Ganondorf was just the opposite. Theories and suspicions didn't distract him as easily as complicated thinkers. And, to Remaln, it worked so well.

"Correct." He said, without any notice of satisfaction in his voice. But really, he was very satisfied.

The brown, crumbled leaves fell slowly from the trees, and were blown through the air, towards Ganondorf. They landed quietly in front of Ganondorf, and onto his shoulders. He picked one up and looked curiously around himself. He looked down to the ground, which was covered in leaves, then up above him. He saw trees that looked dead. He knew they were trees because they had bark on them, and while not being palm trees, they did look similar, in a vague kind of way. And these little pieces of, of plant? Had they come from it? He was just about to ask Remaln when they came to the top of a hill, and over looked one of the most astounding sights that Ganondorf thought he would keep forever.

A great plain lay placed out in front of him. Great mountains were fading in the background, larger than any others that he had ever imagined. A moving Oasis ran on the other side of the plains, from which grass, the grass that was right next to the Oasis had grown, covered it like a fine carpet. And a fortress like he never imagined before loomed over the plain. Great walls separated it from the fields, and houses, little fortresses in their own right, littered the inside of the wall. And a temple, much grander and more beautiful stood away from the little town, and seemed to shine off the sun, and a great castle, taller than any other building Ganondorf had ever seen stood above the town and plains. The sky was clear and blue, and the sun shined much more peacefully and calmly then it ever had in the desert. It truly was a great paradise. A Great Oasis.

"Ganondorf," Said Remaln "Welcome to Hyrule."

* * *

Natasusemo galloped quickly down the hill, kicking up dirt in his path. Ganondorf looked back up the hill for Remaln. He was already standing next to him, arms crossed, without a sign on his face that he had even moved. There wasn't even dust raising from the path on the hill.

"How did you do that?" He asked. After seeing Hyrule for the first time in his life, his brain seemed so clear, yet so full of questions, so he decided to start with one that he knew could be answered.

Remaln started walking again, at the same slow, clam, even pace. "Ganondorf, you still have not learned all there is to magic. In fact, what you have learned is nothing." He said coldly. In the back of his mind he added 'But what you have done is something more.' And even as he thought this, his mind was unsettled. After only teaching him a simple spell for creating toys, he did something that sages train their whole lives for. Even teaching him how to control wind to reach the temple by himself was a risk. What could happen once he taught him the other forms? No, he said to himself, I can't stop now. "The main reason I have brought you to Hyrule is to teach you the rest of the magic arts."

Ganondorf considered why he had to take him to Hyrule to teach him more, but within a second he realised. To keep it from the eyes of the other Gerudo. They both knew they wouldn't approve of Magic. Marget was always afraid of things that may hurt Ganondorf… Did that include Hyrule? He thought wearily. Was that why she tried to keep him in the fortress, keep him home? And Nabooru… He could see that she was going to cry when he was leaving, even Reeta and Geta were concerned, and Wayamad didn't even see him…

He suddenly felt very guilty. But I had to leave, I know that, I had to, but… He thought, his mind throwing thoughts of guilt and despair from side to side in his head. But the white walls, that seemed to stand higher and higher the closer he got to them. That was what he came for, Hyrule…

Ganondorf and Remaln remained silent until they reached the gates, Natasusemo trotting slowly, and Remaln walking along side at the same pace. The drawbridge was already down, and the sun was beginning its trek down the sky. Ganondorf could hear the water running nearby. It sounded so much closer then it ever did in the desert, the water there never ran, it was more like it was stopping for a rest and forgot which way to go on. Except for under the bridge, but the water there was such a long way down… At least, you'd hope it was a long way down, or you'd know you were in trouble. There was a big fence directly across from the gates, and horses were running inside it. It looked like the land around it had been cleared for something. Ganondorf held Natasusemo's reins tightly, and passed through the gates.

* * *

The best way to describe what Ganondorf felt when he passed through the pasts, down the small pathway between two of the small fortresses, would be a fish out of water, and then thrown into a pond filled with lots of other, different fish. While not a very catchy metaphor, it's very effective in this case.

People surrounded him. Lots of them, all in the market, calling out to apparently tell people about certain fruits in a manner of bragging, then oddly giving them away to others while exchanging small shiny items, which overall destroyed the effect of bragging, some talking, laughing, and others juggling, or one even had a small animal that could walk on its forefeet, and the people watching this gladly threw the little shiny items down at them, which the others quickly picked up. A lot of the activity seemed to revolve around these small items. And there were others. Other _men_. Many of them, and women. All different. They all had skin like Remaln's for one thing, pale and pink, compared to the Gerudo's brown and tan. Some had hair growing on their faces, something that Ganondorf had never had trouble with, and Remaln seemed to try to cut his own face to get rid of it, something that Ganondorf had always been curious about, but too afraid to really ask. Ganondorf gathered that only the men he could see had the hair, but the women, they were different aswell. They had the same skin as the men, and their clothing was different, but Ganondorf could see something else that was different. Something out of place that he just couldn't put his finger on.

He felt something sharp tap his shin. A rather tall, thin man clad professionally in armour was holding a spear to his shin.

"Hey you." He addressed the King of the Gerudo. "Get off that horse. No riding in the market place." Nobody had spoken to Ganondorf in that manner before. He felt slightly shocked, but that was because the rest of him felt meekly insulted. He looked to Remaln. He kept his hat down, over his face, like he didn't want anyone to see him. He nodded. Ganondorf swung off Natasusemo.

"Right." Said the guard. "You can take it to the castle stables, they allow you to leave your horse there for a few rupees." He then looked at Ganondorf's forehead, as the crown glinted off the sunlight. He tapped his own forehead. "And you may want to hold onto that. Looks like it's worth a bit."

Ganondorf paused, then nodded uncertainly. The man didn't seem to take too much notice, and walked off into the crowd. He turned to Remaln.

"Rupees?"

Remaln reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small bag. He tipped a few small, shiny crystals into his hand. "These." He said. "They're used for money around here." Remaln paused, expecting Ganondorf to nod and continue on. It was only when Ganondorf didn't move that Remaln remembered that, the whole time he was at the Fortress, he didn't have to use anything for money. "They're something we use to trade for other things."

He placed a few into Ganondorf's hand. "Here. Use these around the city if you get a chance." And he started to walk through the crowd. Ganondorf tugged on Natasusemo's reins and followed. He heard people complain about a horse swiping their face, but didn't turn around. He just hoped they weren't talking about him, despite a nagging, yet accurate, voice in his head telling him they were.

* * *

A few guards stood in front of the castle gates, but divided when they saw Remaln and Ganondorf coming. They pointed Ganondorf to the stables.

The area around them was lush, green and active with butterflies and bees. Ganondorf had never seen such an area before in his life. Yet, looking at the huge white fortress looming overhead, it all seemed in place. The flowers here, the running water down the small pit under the drawbridge, the bees going and making honey (something of which the Gerudo were aware of, as they did keep some beehives. They went away to get the honey, and for some reason they were always bothered enough to come back), and butterflies not doing anything much useful, but looking pretty seemed to give them all the purpose they needed. Yet it didn't feel right. It didn't feel _homey. _First of all, Ganondorf considered the lack of sand being picked up and thrown into his face. It was the little, annoying things that reminded you of home, but it was something more. Something just didn't feel right. It felt natural, but not meant to be, and he just couldn't think of what it was.

Remaln also looked uncomfortable. He had never seemed overly at peace in the desert, but he appeared in exactly the same mood. And it didn't improve as they got closer to the castle. If anything, he wrapped himself tighter in the purple robes he always wore. The wind pushed against his hat, making it seem to want to leave his head, but he kept it pressed on, and didn't raise his head to the castle.

They walked across the drawbridge and came into a large yard in the centre of the castle. There were lots of guards, generally standing by, looking important and probably doing something important, although all Ganondorf could see was them staying perfectly still. To the right of the yard there was a stable.

Ganondorf could tell it was a stable only because there were horses inside it. It wasn't the same as the one in the Fortress. It was worn down and old, with splinters sticking from most of the shoddy bits of wood used to hold it up. It almost hurt Ganondorf to see it like that. When he walked over it, he looked inside. It was roomy, but still smaller then the one at the fortress. It seemed sad, and hay lay all over the floor. Meriane would have been disgraced. There were some other men in it trying to drag out another horse that was madly hesitant, and tried to pull back into its stall, waving its head. Ganondorf walked over to an empty stall and led Natasusemo into it. Then he heard the crack.

"Come on you bloody horse! Like a god damn broody hen!" Said one of the men as he struck the horse with a whip. He was short and bald, and had a face like some kind of angry insect. The horse buckled, but regained its grip. Remaln walked in and stood at the door, looking calm, yet he felt somewhat expectant.

"Come on! Don't bloody-" And he pulled the whip back, and as he began to crack it forward, it was grabbed and held. Ganondorf stood over the man. He twisted the man's hand down, forcing him to drop the whip.

"Don't hurt that horse." He said coldly. Strangely he couldn't remember moving, as in he can't remember his feet walking him over there. But he was, and he couldn't care. He felt anger grow in him, like a pot nearing boil. No Gerudo would hurt a horse like that. If a horse doesn't want to do something, then it's probably because it's a bad idea in the Gerudo point of view. To strike one was as bad as hitting a small child. He gripped the man's hand harder, which emitted a crack that echoed throughout the stable, and the man's face twisted in pain. "Ever again."

He let go of the man's hand, and he fell to the floor and desperately grabbed it like he was afraid it was going to fall off. In actual fact, he was. Ganondorf patted the horse's nose softly, and it calmed down as it looked into his eyes. A moment ago they had been filled with anger, now they were calm and caring. The man on the ground was whimpering softly, and the other two men stood by in shock, not sure whether or not to believe their eyes. They swore they never even saw him move.

Once one of them did, he called out, "Guards! Guards! Get here now!"

The sound of a man running clad in armour was heard outside, and then the two guards stood by the door, and observed the area, seeing the man on the ground clutching his hand and sobbing in agony.

"What's happened here?" One of them said sternly, eyes still darting about the area.

The man who called them pointed to Ganondorf, who was still patting the horse's head, not taking notice of the guards. "This bastard just broke the horse master's arm!"

The guards ran over to the scene. One picked up the apparent Horse Master and tried to lead the man out of the stables, the two men trailing behind and trying to hold the horse master up. The other one grabbed Ganondorf by the shoulder and pulled him back.

"Right, you, you're coming with me." He said, pointing his spearhead to Ganondorf on an angle.

"Where?"

"To the king." The guard said threateningly. And the look on Ganondorf's face made him feel considerably less effective. It almost looked somewhere between confused and glad. Even as he pulled Ganondorf out of the stables, he patted Natasusemo on the way out, as if he didn't notice.

Remaln then sighed and walked out of the stables. He hoped they might meet with the king in a more subtle way, but at least this way got them noticed.

* * *

Ganondorf was pulled inside the castle doors by the guard. The doors were big and heavy, so Ganondorf gave the man a helping hand when pushing open the door. He made it seem like waving a hand through the air. The guard gulped as for the first time, he really noticed how big Ganondorf was. It's amazing what having your authority diminished and your actual hight and strength realised can do. In fact Ganondorf was walking in front of him asking which way to go, like an enthusiastic child. It made the guard incredibly embarrassed as all the other guards looked at him with curiosity and, in some cases, disgust.

The inside of the castle was very articulate. The solid stone walls stood over twenty feet tall, with a dust free ceiling above and candles hanging in chandeliers every six feet. The walls were decorated with paintings of who looked to be important people, places, scenes and, very particularly, a picture of the three golden triangles hung over the largest and most prestigious doors, as in they had golden handles and were very big, with the triangles carved into all the gold hinges that made it swing open, after the guard was forced to ask Ganondorf to after an attempt to prove his strength that only made him feel so much more weaker. Ganondorf opened it with one hand, and this made the guard try to block out the eyes of the on looking guards.

They walked through the door and down the hall. All along the walls of it were windows that shone brightly in the light, and pictures with great gold frames that would probably far outweigh the worth of the person portrayed inside it. At the end, at the top of a small staircase, there were two seats with very high backs. The seats, to the untrained eye, would have appeared to be made of gold, but to Ganondorf, he could see that it was just metal coated with golden paint. The Gerudo liked gold, and were raised with an instinct to know the difference between a fake and the genuine article. On it sat a man with a thick moustache; large, kind eyes, short coarse hair and a thin mouth that looked like it could issue a command faster then it could be thought of. He had a large red robe on him, with golden trimmings, and had a sword resting by the throne. Next to him, in a similar yet smaller seat, sat a woman. She seemed small and dainty, and around the same age as the man, with short blonde hair delicately framing her head, but her eyes were something else. They looked normal, but staring into the pupils you could see far more then her eyes held. It was like staring into a pool, with a reflection you've never seen before but you've always known was there. The very aura around her felt calm, yet her eyebrows gave off a slightly tense feeling as she saw Ganondorf approach, with the guard trailing him and asking him to step behind him.

The man waved a hand in front of him. The guard stopped, and then Ganondorf stood still as he felt the tugging on his cape lead downwards.

"Who is this man?" He said sharply, eyeing Ganondorf mercilessly. Ganondorf felt obliged to look down bashfully.

The guard looked up from the floor as he bowed. "He's a man we've just taken from the stables. He broke the Horse Master's arm."

The king turned his attention from the guard and focused on Ganondorf. He took in all the features he had. The dark skin, the red hair, the cape… It was almost as if… "Boy," he said sternly. "You're not from around here, are you?" His eyes had a concerned tint to them.

Ganondorf looked up at him. "No?" He said simply.

"Where are you from?" The king said, looking right into Ganondorf. He hesitated, and before he could open his mouth-

"He is Ganondorf of the Desert." Said a voice by the door, and all eyes turned to face it. Remaln was leaning against the door as he usually did, hat brim pulled over his face and arms crossed. Silence, the same sort that was in the Gerudo hall, echoed in the throne room. The king quickly looked back and forth from Ganondorf and Remaln.

The king leaned forward in his chair. "Re… Remaln? Is that you?" He said wistfully, but in the kind of voice that could make the outcome of the answer anything from passing out cigars to burning down his house.

Remaln looked up and pushed up the brim of his hat with his finger. Ganondorf, for perhaps the first time since he was a child, saw Remaln's eyes flicker with a type of friendly fire. His face broke out into a satisfied grin, that, instead of his usual smiles, which felt cold, this one felt warmer and from the looks of it, it wasn't just a show. It was genuine.

The king pushed himself out of the chair and began to walk quickly towards Remaln, who pushed himself from the wall and walked steadily down the hall. The Queen had a confused, withdrawn expression, which seemed to nail dangerously onto the king, but he didn't notice. The king thrust out an open hand in front of Remaln. Ganondorf flinched. It looked like some kind of challenge. He began to prepare to run to help, but then stopped suddenly as Remaln clasped the king's hand, and shook it. They smiled and laughed at each other, like old friends. Ganondorf didn't know what to do; the king had clearly threatened him, yet they treated it like an old tradition. Unless, his brain assured him, that's what it was.

The king threw an arm around Remaln's shoulder and began walking with him. Several of the guards flinched when he did this, kings did not usually get so personal. "Remaln! It's been an age!" He laughed. Ganondorf and the Queen, despite not knowing it, suddenly felt very much the same. They felt as if a spotlight had fallen on the King and Remaln, and left them in the dark.

"Oh, you know. This and that." Chuckled Remaln, not paying attention to anything, or anyone, else. For someone who seemed so detached before, thought Ganondorf, he's suspiciously into the place now. But maybe that's all he needed to see, a friend from an old time.

And Ganondorf felt incredibly guilty for a reason he didn't know.

"Excuse me Reaven," Said the Queen, sitting on her throne and pouting, her eyes slightly fiery, and attempting to burn into the steel wall that now seemed to be the king's soul "But are you going to introduce me to your… Friend?"

The king basically dragged Remaln up the steps leading to the thrones, and beckoned his wife to stand up. "Florue," said the king cheerfully, "This is Remaln. He's an old friend, he used to be a Priest Sage before he left. We basically grew up together!"

The Queen looked him up and down, her eyes a mixture of frustration and curiosity. She stayed seated. "Oh?" She said, innocently yet conspicuously. "And why did he leave then?"

A short silence covered the hall. None of them spoke. Ganondorf was waiting expectantly for the answer, despite knowing the truth. Remaln raised a hand, and pointed it to Ganondorf. He kept his face towards Florue, the Queen. She looked at his hand, then to Ganondorf in two jointed motions. She then batted her eyelids several times. "For him." Remaln exclaimed.

This time the silence coated the hall, instead of covering it. It felt like it would never come off, until the Queen worked her nerve up. "And who's he?"

The pause lasted barely a second. But Ganondorf did not speak, he felt like the conversation going on was like one on a painting. They can all talk about it, and give their opinions, but they don't expect the picture to reply or have any feelings or comments. "It's like I told you before." Said Remaln. "He is Ganondorf, the King of the Gerudo."

The king's and his wife's faces were pale and livid a second after Remaln's mouth settled. The Queen's pupils, which before were large and alive, were now tiny and fearful. They shook very slightly. The king's hand, curved into a type of half fist, Ganondorf noted, moved slowly towards the sword by his throne. So did Remaln.

The guards surrounding the throne room began to point their spears so slightly towards Ganondorf, and one or two stepped forward. The one next to Ganon was shaking as a cold sweat dripped off his brow.

"Oh?" Said the king, still shaking, his hand still reaching ever so slowly towards the sword. "And what have you come here to discuss?"

Ganondorf finally felt his tongue loosen. "Peace." He said, and the king's expression almost turned even more terrified, yet his hand stopped reaching for the sword. The king stared straight into Ganondorf's eyes, his pupils then shaking slightly. The Queen had put her hand over her mouth, and the guards backed away slowly, in a wary manner. The guard next to him was crouched perfectly still, a small puddle of sweat now building up in the carpet in front of him.

This was one of those times in a world's history where anything could happen, and whatever it was would change the very course of destiny for every person living. Even the slightest movement could shift the very foundations on which a timeline stood, and the King of Hyrule knew this. He was raised to know this. And the worst thing was he had no idea what to do. He turned away from Ganondorf and looked at Remaln. "Is this true?" He asked in a shocked and not at all dignified manner. There was no time to waste with etiquette.

Remaln didn't look back and him, and instead waved his hand to Ganon. "I believe you should be asking him that." He said coldly, yet inside he felt quite smug.

Ganondorf looked back at the King in a serious manner. The king gawked back at Ganondorf, then broke out in, what may be called, a smile. He stepped down the stairs, and proposed his right hand, like he did to Remaln. Ganondorf looked down at it, and didn't flinch. He looked back at the king's face and batted his eyelids. The king just smiled and nodded expectantly to his hand. Ganondorf could see his left eye twitching slightly.

Ganondorf put out his right hand, and clasped onto the King's. He held it still for a second, trying not to grip it too hard, until he saw that the king was actually trying to move his hand up, so Ganondorf let his arm go limp. When they released, he saw the man's hand was sweaty and red, and was shaking slightly.

"Very well." Said the king, his voice far more solid then before. "Let's talk about it later. Until then, you and Remaln may have dinner with the royal family later." And another silence, more stricken then the last ones, coated the room. The King went back up to his throne as Remaln walked down to Ganondorf. The guards were locked in a type of questioning pose of ready movement, but frozen like statues that wished to remain part of the scenery.

The guard who brought Ganondorf in was still bowing, his hands desperately gripping the red carpet he was facing. He blinked and shook his head, and faced up to the king. "Uh, sir, what about the, uh, the, horse, uh, master?" He stammered. The king stopped in mid-step and felt the sweat on his brow that before had disappeared momentarily. The guard felt the most part of his self-confidence detach from his body and run as far away as it could.

He turned jointedly to the guard. "Send him to the doctor, and give him two weeks leave." He said sternly. He turned his face half way to the guard, and gave him a look. Ganondorf wasn't sure what it actually was, but the guard immediately drew in some air and stood up, bowed and headed swiftly yet professionally out the door, after the guards manning it helped him push it open. Ganondorf only then realised he hadn't moved a foot since he was led into the room with the guard. Remaln stood next to Ganondorf.

"What should we do until then?" He said, back turned to the king's throne.

Reaven sat down at his throne. "You can explore the castle. I suggest you don't go into the town at the moment, dinner will be soon and we wouldn't like to have to wait." He nodded to the guards, who stood immediately at attention.

Ganondorf nodded, and walked outside. Remaln walked out some seconds later, and clicked his fingers at the guards who were intently staring at Ganondorf's back as he went around a corner. Afterwards he went back to the king, after the Queen had left after hearing some crying going on down the hall.

* * *

Ganondorf also heard the crying. It was coming from the opposite direction he was walking down, so he turned around quickly to it, and several of the guards frantically folded back into their places by the walls. It was odd to see so many people, clad in armour and armed to the… well, the wrist because weapons rarely travelled up any further. Conventional weapons, anyway. They held their spears up right in a completely defenceless way, yet they were weapons all the same, but if you didn't know the stick with a pointy piece of decorated metal on top of it was a weapon, then they'd probably looked more set for gardening then for combat. Ganondorf also noticed how skinny and weak they all looked, although he would never say such a thing to total strangers because it would be rude to bring up something like that. Yet despite looking rather stick-like, they all looked considerably healthy… healthier than most of the Gerudo when Ganondorf thought about it. The Gerudo were stronger then these people but-

And then he stopped in his tracks towards the sound of the cries. He double backed a few steps, and looked around as the guards all stood upright again and their armour jumped temporarily on their chests. Ganondorf scanned their faces, and, because he didn't know it was embarrassing, their figures. They were all men. Why was everyone with a weapon here a man? Why aren't there any women guarding the palace? He turned back around and heading towards the cries again, but his mind was racing with questions that he couldn't answer in a million years.

Despite being the king of an entire people, it had never occurred to him that people could be sexist, considering he was the only one of his gender, if anyone had something to say against him, it was more like Ganonist, and if Ganondorf had anything against all the others, which he never did, it would merely be against everyone else, no gender involved…

But then, there was Remaln, and how the women acted towards him…

But they didn't really stop him from anything… Anything much, that is. They wouldn't let him talk about his religion in front of the younger Gerudo… In fact he hadn't even told Ganondorf anything about it, just about the…

He then realised that every doorway he passed under, there was an engraving of the three triangles, sometimes decorated with the figures of some women by them, or in one or two cases, inside the triangles. Yet inside the fortress there were none, even Troto had hesitated before giving Ganondorf the picture that hung in his room… 'Are we all really that different?' he thought.

The crying was getting much louder now. He could hear it from one of the doors just along this corridor. Ganondorf could tell immediately, even from a distance, that it was a baby's cry. He had become used to the sound of crying babies in the fortress, after almost a year after the sending, when all the women gave birth. All of them were girls, of course, and this cry didn't sound any different. Although, in truth, he didn't know how a boy's cry was supposed to sound. Ganondorf neared the door that was shielding the rest of the world from the cries. Ganondorf noticed that the two guards near it had pieces of fabric folded discreetly underneath their helmets to block out any sounds entering their ears. They both appeared to be half asleep. He considered it probably wasn't worth asking them if he could enter, they didn't look like they were taking much notice of anything, as it happens with people who block out any sound, which led Ganondorf to question just how thick that cotton must have been. He opened the door, and stepped inside the room.

The room was well lit, with a window on all but one wall, which Ganondorf had his back turned to. With her back to him, someone was gently rocking on a rocking chair, and the cries were obviously coming from the chair. The walls around the room were painted pink, which was an odd thing. Barely any of the walls within the Gerudo complex were painted, and if they were, it was usually the occasional decorative red line. But never, ever pink. It was such a rare colour in the Gerudo Fortress that if it wasn't for the sunset Ganondorf probably would never have seen it before, and he wasn't sure why the Gerudo didn't use it much, or, more accurately, never.

Ganondorf took another step towards the chair, and then had the unusual sensation of having a needle being held by the side of his neck.

Ganondorf heard the sound of the rushing feet behind him before the needle appeared, but only barely. Who it was, they were already in the room, at the wall he didn't face. And they waited until he was relaxed… And, despite having little experience with the type, he knew they thought he was trying to hurt someone.

"Who the hell are you?" Said a woman's voice from behind him. It was harsh and full of fire, and he could feel as though it was full of rage, yet she held the needle very steadily. It wasn't a general needle Ganondorf saw, but a precision one used for combat. Occasionally one of the younger, more ambitious girls would try to take it up, as many different forms of weapons were within the Gerudo complex, but most of them gave up before properly learning it. Most of the skills gained with the needle were by knowing the human pressure points were, and theory, even for combat, was not something most of the girls liked to waste their time on. But this girl was holding it so steady, and at a point on his neck that Ganondorf and all of the Gerudo were taught was vital in combat. It was one of the spots where, if you were hit, you wouldn't be getting back up. Ganondorf stood perfectly still, as the woman in the chair pushed herself up quickly and immediately turned to Ganondorf and the woman who had him by the throat. It was the Queen, and she was holding a little baby wrapped in clothe in her arms. Ganondorf felt the needle prick his skin. "Who, the hell, are you?" Said the voice aggressively, the needle still being held solidly in place. The Queen was visibly shaking as she looked at the scene. It was obvious that she wasn't so much as frightened, but confused. She quickly yet gently put the crying bundle into the white and extravagantly decorated crib, and then faced Ganondorf, and waved a hand shakily. The needle seemed to pull out slightly. The Queen looked into Ganondorf's eyes sternly yet with the slight aura of fear still around her.

"Impa, put it down." Said the Queen quietly. "I don't think he's here for that." Ganondorf saw as the needle was quickly pulled down behind him, and he felt his body lose its tenseness. He turned to the assailant slowly, taking care not to raise a guard. He had learned that by trying to protect yourself, you implied that you were going to try and hurt them first.

Next to him stood a young woman, no older then him, but she looked the most different out of everyone Ganondorf had seen that day. She wore a tight fitting blue robe, with simple white patterns about it that looked like some kind of writing. She had white coloured pants underneath the bottom of the robe and blue leather sandals. In each hand she was holding three needles in between each knuckle. She had even paler skin then most of the Hyrulians, that tanned nowhere on her face or shoulders, and she had white hair tied up behind her head in a loose bun. She kept her eyes closed to Ganondorf as she flipped the needles in the opposite direction and into a little pouch inside her sleeve in one continuous movement. She took a step back, and bowed slightly to the Queen, then opened her eyes sleekly to Ganondorf.

It wasn't the look she gave him that made him feel uncomfortable. It was the eyes themselves. Her pupils were a deep, pure red. The pinpoint black iris in it gave the impression that she could see something he couldn't, and it was exactly what she needed to see. Ganon swore the light danced around the pupils.

"What are you doing in here, Gerudo?" Said the Queen. It took Ganondorf a second to realise she was talking about him. Nobody had addressed him as 'Gerudo' before.

"I, uh, heard a baby crying, so I came to see if it was alright." He said meekly. He felt like, as in so many situations, the truth wasn't enough. He realised this as her eyes narrowed on him.

"Really, Gerudo?" She said, as she went to pick up the crying bundle again. "Do you have much experience with babies?" She asked, and Ganondorf was riddled with the feeling that wasn't what she wanted to say at all. He nodded as a type of compensation for not knowing what to say. Ganondorf noticed she was keeping a distance. "This is my daughter, Zelda." She said proudly, as she tilted the bundle slightly towards Ganondorf, and he got a view of what was, in all fact, a perfectly normal, if loud, baby. He had a feeling she was just trying to get off track to anything relevant to the situation before, and he wasn't going to stop her. The Queen waved a hand in the direction of the girl. "This, Gerudo, is Impa, caretaker of the royal family."

Impa walked slowly around Ganondorf and stood by the Queen, gracefully taking Zelda into her arms, which didn't appear to improve the baby's mood at all, not that Impa appeared to be taking much notice. She was still staring at Ganondorf with those intense red eyes, making Ganondorf feel incredibly guilty about something he was sure he hadn't done. She absent-mindedly bobbed the baby up and down in her arms, which slightly diminished the sound, but not to a point where it would have counted for anything.

"Dinner I believe will be soon. I suggest we should probably make our way there." Said the Queen in a strict manner, and walked out of the room, giving the guards grieving looks on her way. Impa trailed with the baby, and Ganondorf followed a few steps behind, yet somehow he knew Impa was listening to his footsteps.

* * *

After about ten minutes of walking they passed the throne room, where the Queen stopped in front of the doors.

"I've just got to take care of some business inside, so you two go on." She said, looking particularly at Ganondorf. She kissed the small Zelda on the forehead, and entered the room. Ganondorf just had time to glance at Remaln, still standing next to the king. The Queen was walking down towards them at a fast pace. By the time the doors closed and Ganondorf stopped looking, Impa was already walking quickly down the hall.

Ganondorf ran for a few steps, then seemingly skipped the last few until he caught up with Impa. It wasn't that he truly wanted to be around her, but the utter lack of knowledge of where anything was in the castle did call for the use of a guide, even one that only a short time before would probably have been quite content with killing him. The baby Impa was carrying was still crying, but not as loudly as it was before. At least now Ganondorf could hear himself think, but then realised all he could think about was questions.

He glanced at Impa. She was keeping a steady and calm view in front of her, never fluttering to look anywhere else. She had pointed ears, he noticed, much like everyone else around here, and most of the residents of the Gerudo Fortress who had come from Hyrule, but he'd never seen someone who looked like that before. It was as if she'd never seen too much sunlight before.

He felt obliged to say something. "My name's Ganondorf." He said. She glanced at him.

"What?" She said, in painfully accusing tones.

"You wanted to know my name before. It's Ganondorf." He said.

She looked away again. "That's because I thought you were going to do something to Florue." She said in a distant way, as if acting if he wasn't there.

Ganondorf let a few awkward seconds pass. The guards appeared to be paying him less attention now. Was it because he was with Impa? "I noticed you used needles before." He said, and regretted it deep inside him.

"I thought you'd be one of the first to notice." She said coldly. Ganondorf knew that somehow, despite the serious tone, and truth of the matter, she was joking, but in the cold, hard, not-at-all-friendly type of way. "I only use them if I think Florue or Zelda's in danger. It's not a custom of mine to pull them on strangers, but you looked as strange as they come."

Ganondorf felt his stomach turn at what he believed to be an insult. He did look as different to them as they did to him then…

He was struck with the urge to pass the conversation onto other grounds. "I didn't think anyone else would've used needles like that here." And he really didn't. To be honest with himself, he wasn't sure if they'd have spears or swords either… They were from the Gerudo Fortress after all… But once he arrived, and saw all the guards, he felt embarrassed at having those thoughts.

"They usually don't, but my people are different." She said and didn't lose a step as she said it, but Ganondorf could tell she seemed… disturbed…

"Your people?"

She didn't appear to hear his question. She pushed open some smaller doors down the end of the hall. "The dining room is here. You should probably find a seat." She said. A large room was before them. It had a table of a size and polish Ganondorf had never seen before, with chairs with velvet red cushions on the seats all the way down it, seven to each side with one at each head of the table. She took a seat two chairs down from the far end of the table, near a high chair, an unseen sight within the Gerudo Fortress, but Ganondorf soon understood what it was for as she placed the young Zelda inside it.

Ganondorf took a seat opposite her position, two seats down from the other head. No words were exchanged for the few minutes as they sat alone, and a man walked in and started laying out forks, knives and spoons. Several of them. He wasn't sure what to do, or whether he should touch any of them. He just let them sit in front of him, shining off the extravagant chandeliers and table candles, which was a bit different. Most of the forks, spoons and so on where rusted over or made of wood in the Gerudo fortress, and due to the rarity of both metal and wood within the desert, Gerudo often ate with their hands, but delicately, with proper manners still included.

Then the doors were forced open by the guards and the King, Queen and Remaln stepped through. Remaln still had the normal emotion on his face as he walked in, facing the floor and hat brim pulled over his brow, and then took the seat next to Ganondorf and took his hat off and placed it next to him. The Queen took the head seat near the highchair of Zelda, and the King took the head opposite to her, next to Remaln. Almost immediately after they were seated the back doors burst open and food was placed quickly yet precisely on the table. Ganondorf purveyed the table. There was salad, but not like the Gerudo salad, often dehydrated and thin, this was full and plump. There were meats of all kinds, Coo Coos, which, according to popular rumour, tasted like everything and that basically destroyed the purpose of specifically asking for them, fish, most foods Ganondorf hadn't seen before. He knew he hadn't seen fish fried before, but he had seen them in books occasionally, in the few that actually had pictures. Remaln nudged Ganondorf in the waist.

"Listen," he discreetly hissed to him "I may have forgotten to mention a few things. You remember the manners lessons that you used to have back at the Fortress?" Ganondorf nodded. How could he forget? They took up a good four hours of his daily life when he was young. "Well, forget about them. They'll do you no good here." Ganondorf was taken back by this. Did Remaln mean for him to… Act badly? "And don't think I mean you should shove food into your mouth with your feet like Reeta used to." Ganondorf suddenly had a painful sting of homesickness. She did that often, yet now he felt like he'd forgotten completely about her. And Geta. And Nabo- "This is were you have to use _etiquette_. It's like manners, increased ten fold. Just look at me and see what I do when I eat, and try to copy me as much as possible." Ganondorf nodded. Arguing wasn't in place if he had to use something that sounded like etiquette. It at the very least sounded important. The king had a first plate gathered and placed in front of him, then the Queen, and then Impa and a small bowl of mashed… something for Zelda, then Remaln and finally Ganondorf got a rather less full looking plate in front of him. He could feel the social scale being shouted at him through this. Ganondorf went to pick up a fork, then his brain kicked in. As did Remaln's foot as it stomped on his. Ganondorf looked at Remaln's hand, which was now selecting the third fork from the plate and using it on the salad. Ganondorf copied, despite acting wanting to eat some of the meagre amount of fish that had been hidden beneath the salad on his plate.

"So, Gerudo King," Said the King, after swallowing a small piece of fish. "You've come to Hyrule to talk about peace between us?" He was talking so smugly, as if he had all the power in the world right in front of him. On his plate, it would seem. Ganondorf considered the question. It was the idea he had originally, wasn't it? It was why he wanted to come, right? 'Then why am I having such trouble convincing myself of it?' said the traitorous voice that had lately been appearing in his mind of late.

"Yes." He said simply, after clearing his throat from the small ration of salad he had retrieved from the plate, and felt the space for more words around him get bigger and bigger each second. After a few silent seconds, the king swallowed his current mouthful, and looked at Ganondorf, holding the strangely shaped glass that appeared to be half full of… what Ganondorf couldn't bring himself to think of.

"Do you understand what this means for you and your people Ganondorf?"

A few seconds passed. "What do you mean?" He said, and the question seemed to rattle the heads of a few of the surrounding guards. In a political discussion, in their opinion, you never asked the opposition a question that was not rhetorical.

"Ganondorf," He said after a second of thought. "The Gerudo were once Hyrulian women, you do know? By proposing peace you're effectively surrendering to the original purpose of the Gerudo." A book cover being held by the Phantom flashed in front of his eyes. "Now, Ganondorf, while I'd be happy for there to be a notice of peace between us, but is that really what you want to do?" He said, in a type of calm, curious way, then took a small sip of… whatever it was in that glass.

Ganondorf felt very alone. The whole world had detached from him the second after the king had stopped speaking. Was that what it meant? That the Gerudo would effectively… lose purpose? Could he do that to them, even as their king? Especially as their king? And, seeing as he was already here, could he actually turn it down? He'd been the one to purpose it after all…

The king's voice snapped Ganondorf back into the world as some of the backdoors flung open. "Ah! My favourite!" He said proudly, as two men carrying a large plate covered with a dome metal lid entered the room. It appeared more polished then any other silverware at the table, the gleam coming off it almost blinding Ganondorf, and then he noticed how the amber jewels on his brow glinted into his eyes. The plate was placed in front of Ganondorf. "I believe you'd like this, it's a speciality of Hyrule." Said the king cheerfully, as he began selecting a knife. The dish was taken off in a single movement, the light of the candles on the dish catching his eyes, and then as it died, Ganondorf stared straight into the great empty eyes of the beast.

The head lay on the great plate, surrounded by garnish and other roasted limbs. The great charred, black eyes of it faced Ganondorf, and plunged deep into his soul, and even deeper into his memory. The steam was still rising off it and the items around it, and spurred from the eye sockets, curled up the length of the horns that stood like great, dark pillars. Ganondorf didn't even feel as his entire body tensed and a cold sweat began to spread out on his brow. His eyes were frozen as the bull's skull looked viewlessly into his face.

After a second of the room being frozen, looking at somewhere between him and the plate, Ganondorf felt his hands push away from the table and his feet land on the ground. After a second, he tore his view away from the skull, and faced the king.

"I've got to go." He said shakily, and made his way out of the door. Remaln looked at his half finished plate, sighed, picked up his hat, and left the room slowly after Ganondorf without saying a word. And then after about four seconds, Impa remembered how to shut her mouth, which was gaping like some kind of deepwater fish, and silence coated the room yet again as the family went back to their plates, without even exchanging glances, despite the feeling that the room had suddenly become far smaller.

* * *

Ganondorf stormed down the halls of the castle, with the candles around him blowing towards him as he passed, then being instantly put out. An entire chandelier waved up on the roof before going out, much to the surprise of the guards, who went to fetch the candle boy. It took Ganondorf several minutes to realise he had no idea where he was going, but at that point he couldn't care. He headed towards a wall and slammed a hand against it, causing a very discreet rumble on the other side.

The bull. The _bull_. It was invading his thoughts for every second he lived. He had forgotten, or at least tried to, for so many years, only thinking of it in the rarest occasions. 'Then all of a sudden, it all hits me in the face.' He repulsed that memory for every second after it happened, but now…

And all it took was a gods-damn dinner plate.

Ganondorf felt the tears begin to bridge in his eyes. He closed his eyes tight, and pulled himself up as he felt them roll down his face. He brushed them away and then felt a hand suddenly be placed onto his shoulder, in a hard yet kind manner. He knew it was Remaln from the touch. Ganondorf placed his hand away from the wall and down by his side.

"You may want to watch how the magic reacts to you in the future Ganondorf." He said warmly. Ganondorf knew that whenever something went wrong, when he went to confront him later, Remaln would always act as though it never happened immediately afterwards. "Your emotions seem to be setting it off by accident."

Ganondorf turned around in a single movement, and Remaln released his hand. He looked down the hall he had just walked from.

The carpet was pulled up in ripples as high as Ganondorf's knee for the last few feet before he turned off for the wall. He couldn't see down the end of the hall because of all the candles being blown out, and several of the chandeliers were still rocking back and forth. Ganondorf looked at his hands, mostly because he didn't know where else to look. 'But I wasn't even TRYING to use magic…'

"Why does it do that?" He said.

Remaln sighed as he stood next to him. "Because, Ganondorf, you're still not used to magic yet. You can still use it through your emotions, although, most people usually don't do it to this extent." Said Remaln professionally. "Then again, people will at least understand it a little better here. After all…" He said, and raised a hand. The world seemed to stop for a second, then a gust of wind burst out from Remaln's hand. The carpet straightened itself, yet the chandeliers stopped moving. Then from each of his finger tips a small flash of light ignited, and he pressed his fingers individually as if he was using some kind of invisible musical instrument, and each jumped onto each candlewick, including the ones down the very end of the hall and at the very top of the ceiling. The guards stood still for a second, inspecting the place in an as of shocked manner, then nodded and went back to their posts. They didn't even try to see what had done it. "Magic is not as unknown here as it was in the Gerudo Fortress."

Then, without another word, Remaln began to walk away, and Ganondorf followed instinctively.

* * *

After about five minutes of silent walking, Remaln stopped in front of two separate doors. The corridor they were in was badly lit, without any windows. It was in the centre of the castle on the bottom floor, and Ganondorf could hear the faint sounds of footsteps above him. The stones around him barely reflected the light.

Remaln nodded subtly towards the door on the left. "That's the room you'll be staying in Ganondorf. I had someone bring up your things earlier." He began stepping towards the other door. "I'll be in this room. Remember, you have any problems, come to see me first."

Ganondorf moved himself towards the door, and gripped the knob. "Oh, and Ganondorf…" He turned his head to Remaln, who was standing perfectly still in front of his door. "Think about what Reaven said. You've got to remember, if you agree to this, then the Gerudo aren't the only ones affected by it, no matter what choice you make." He paused. The candlelight felt even lighter then before. "Just by coming here, you've now put a new page in the book of history. If you become allies, then the world will rejoice, but if you choose not to, and carry on the ways of the Gerudo, your rivalry will only strengthen, but this doesn't mean that the people will be unhappy. If anything, it'll make them even happier, because they will have more faith in the world they already have. It won't be perfect, but it'll be what they're used to." Remaln sounded oddly disturbed when saying this, like he didn't trust in the words coming out of his mouth. "So, Ganondorf, it seems that you currently have more power then anyone else in the world right now. Will you change the world," he turned to Ganondorf, his face shrouded with darkness from the shadow of his hat's brim, but he could still make out his eyes. They shined like ice in a cavern, and were just as cold. "Or will you keep it all the more the same?" He opened the door, moved slowly in, and quietly closed it behind him.

Ganondorf was left alone in the hall with a feeling of hopelessness and loneliness, and felt a faint wind blow through the windowless hall, as the candles went out. He moved into his room and shut the door, and the wind died down.

* * *

Ganondorf's bag and things were laid out on the bed. A single faint candle hung from the ceiling to provide minimum light, but Ganondorf was used to this. Often, if the Gerudo operated at night, they would rely on the moon's light, as candles were so few and far between.

Yet… these people seem to have them in their hundreds…

Ganondorf placed his bag in the far corner of the room.

'So we really are that different.' His mind told him. When Ganondorf arrived, he expected things to be different. He knew it because he'd seen how different the places looked when he went to the Great Oasis, but he hadn't expected the people to be so… strange, yet so used to it. The women were weaker and frailer, and acting as though they hadn't done a hard day's work in their lives, and even the men looked weaker, yet healthier. And there were so many men. The only woman who looked like she could probably be strong enough to fight or ride properly was that Impa girl, and she was so different…. So pale…

And the man in the stable, what he'd been doing to that horse… And the other two with him, they didn't do anything but encourage it… They were nothing like the Gerudo…

And he'd almost forgotten about some of the Gerudo! The people who had been with him his entire life! His mother, Wayamad, Reeta, Geeta, Nabooru! How could he forget them so easily? Even the Phantom…

Remaln had described Hyrule as a paradise, but it was nothing like the Gerudo Fortress…

'And maybe that was why he thought of it as a parad-'

Ganondorf heard the clunk of wood on stone behind him. A box had fallen out of the bag and lay upside down on the floor. He picked it up and its contents fell out. In the second it took to reach the ground Ganondorf had already remembered what it was. The cape was sprawled out on the floor, the pattern barely recognisable in the soft light. He picked it up and brought it over to the bed. He held it out in front of him as he observed the patterns. The squares, the figures… Marget had always used them when making clothing… And the sign in the middle… He knew it was Old Gerudo, and he had a feeling of what it was, but he couldn't make it ou-

Then it came to him. Wind blew around the small room, swinging the candle back and forth, but not blowing it out. Ganondorf felt the world become a very cold place, and not just from the wind. He dropped to his knees and cried into the cape, directly onto the symbol.

'Don't forget home.'

The words of the symbol on the cape rung in his ears, like a bell that repeated every ring louder and louder. He never even tried to stop the tears.

When Ganondorf finally realised he had no more tears to cry, he pulled the sheets and covers off the bed, and slept on the mattress, covered only by his clothes, and the cape of the Gerudo.

* * *

The conscious Zora hung limply by his headtail in The Great King Ganondorf's hand. The other one didn't even look like he was going to wake up.

Ganondorf walked gradually through the falls of the river. He merely leapt over any ridge he found to get to the higher level. Nothing slowed him down, even the small water creatures, which were usually a great burden to the common traveller, hid under the water from him. Even as he leapt from the water and up, upon more running water, no ripples formed behind him.

He leapt simply up the large rock way that led to the entrance of the Zora Domain. The great never drying waterfall that protected the Zora from unwanted attackers or visitors, but they had a certain way of letting in the Hyrule Royal Family messengers. Ganondorf stood upon the Triforce symbol. He didn't have time for such a trivial formality. He raised his hand to the fall. The Zora tried to view what he was doing. He could barely keep his eyes open from the stress of having no air, but immediately wished he didn't, for he saw what was be the greatest blasphemy to the Zora. The Great Falls had stopped, and the cliff face it had once run down with such power was left dry, with barely any water still on it to drip, and the door way, a simple hole in the wall, was left open. Ganondorf put down his hand and jumped into the gaping space.

The surprise he was met with in the Zora Domain was nothing short of violent. There were many Zora who had their sword fins, the only weapon of the Zora, out. They rarely did this, even against the most dangerous of enemies.

"Put down those two!" Said one of them as he gestured his fins towards Ganondorf. He didn't even flinch. "We mean it King of Evil! Don't harm them!"

The water in the pool below rocked gently; the diving waterfall that was several metres above them flowed freely. The light of the water reflected onto the walls and drifted like dainty paintings. It appeared that all the Zora were out of the water, ready for Ganondorf along the paths.

They knew of what he could do to water with his magic.

"Put them down!" He urged again. His muscles rippled. His normally calm Zora brow wrinkled and his eyes became slim and sleek as he stared into Ganondorf.

A second passed, and Ganondorf spread out his arms, and was holding the Zora by their headtails. "You are in no position to be giving commands, Zora."

The Zora hesitated for a moment. Ganondorf was holding all the pieces now. He had two hostages with whose lives he could do with whatever he wanted… but then again, both of his hands were tied. He couldn't use magic with both of his hands occupied, could he? The lead Zora decided that the risk he would dispose of the two he held and attack them was too great, and charged at Ganondorf, fins ahead of him. Ganondorf reacted as though it was a type of rehearsed dance. He moved his body fluidly out of the way of the Zora, and then flipped over one of the Zora he held by its headtail, and struck the assaulting creature in its side, and spun in mid air until he hit the pool of water below, where he sank, unconscious.

The other Zora had dropped their guard while watching this, but then quickly realised and put it back up, but Ganondorf hadn't moved. He was still just standing there, as he moved one of his hands in front of him, still with the unconscious Zora in it. He glared at them with a calm intensity, which made some of them quiver down their backs. Then one stepped forward, guard up, and jumped at him. The Zora had extraordinarily strong legs from their continuous swimming, and jumping when out of water was their battle trump card, but Ganondorf was prepared. He swung the conscious Zora around above his head, and brought it down upon the airborne Zora, and then with lightning speed Ganondorf kicked it into the water. Then Ganondorf took a step forward, and all the other Zora attacked. They tried to assault him from all the angles they could manage, but Ganondorf just managed his slow walk down the path as he swung the two Zora in his hands around his body, flinging the Zora against walls and into the water. Ganondorf never once missed a target, and was attacking faster then the Zora could close in on him, and any that didn't head towards the water, he kicked them in using the two spinning Zora as guards. By the time he reached the bottom of the path leading to the small rock shore, the way behind him was clear, and several Zora, unconscious or dead, lay in the water. Ganondorf slid the two he had used into the water, and they glided gently until they were in the centre of the pool. They twirled in the water slightly, limbs not conceding to how they should move as their fragile bones were broken, and as if the world was looking down on them, sunk to the bottom of the pool.

Ganondorf walked up another path leading upwards, further into the cave. He felt the air get more and more moist as he followed the path, and once he reached the water path, he stepped upon it like he had done before. A single ripple did not show in the water as he made his way down.

No more Zora blocked the path to Ganondorf's destination. The tranquil water stirred underneath him, unaffected by his footsteps. It was merely a foot high, and Ganondorf could have easily waded through it, but his feet didn't react that way anymore. Magic was something that for many is hard to learn, but even more difficult to give up. He began to see a faint light around a corner, and as he turned it, the water rushed towards him. He quickly spun out of its way, but it did manage to hit his arm. Nothing had managed that in a long time.

The king of the Zora, with his bludging eyes and catfish like excuse for a moustache, his enormous stomach practically making him immobile, sat on the level above him, beyond the small stairs and level to use to speak to him. The water in front of him was rising off the surface of the small pool like it was a snake. It moved gently side to side, pointing towards Ganondorf.

Ganondorf stared right back at it, and then turned to the king. He looked furious, his usually bloated eyes sleek, his fat face shaking.

"We knew you would come here eventually King of Evil." He spat out at him. Ganondorf took a step forward, and the king sent off the stream of water at him. Ganondorf quickly raised a hand, and a spiral of water flew through the air past him, clashing with the Zora's. They were both sprayed, and the water died down. The king was visibly fatigued. While he knew magic of which to control the water, he had not properly used it in years, and wasn't prepared to use it for battle. His headtail drawn around the back of him drew in the air desperately. Ganondorf stared at the king, and the king glanced down at his feet. He saw that they did not affect the water at all. "I see you're tense, Ganondorf." He said. Because he did not breathe through his mouth, his voice showed few signs of fatigue. "You're forcing yourself, walking on water." He seemed strangely smug, but in a very nervous way. "You don't even let your feet rest on the water. You don't even make ripples."

Ganondorf was slightly shaken, but not enough to show it. He took another step towards the King, not loosening himself on the water. There were still no ripples. Water burst from pool and headed towards Ganondorf like missiles, but the King kept walking. He brushed away the individual strands of water like spider web, and made his way up to the speaking tablet. He looked the king in the eye, his glare frozen harder then ice, and raised a hand, covered in mist. The king barely had time to gasp.

The ice spread like a type of cold fire. It climbed up the walls, only to either fall back down, or engulf the moist areas on the wall. The Zora in the pool around the centre of the domain were engulfed in ice. The king was frozen with a terrified emotion on his face. The diving waterfall was frozen over, still standing up. The great lake out behind the king would be nearly totally frozen over. The great fish would have found a way to flee if it hadn't already been frozen. Hyrule's water would have stopped, and the fabled creature of the Water Temple would no longer be content with how much clean water it was getting. The lake would be bone dry in a matter of time. Ganondorf turned his back, and saw something move around the corner quickly. He'd managed to miss one both times? He angrily raced after it.

The figure stopped once it reached the pond, panting heavily through its headtail. It was bent over as she gazed into the near clear ice that held the other Zora. Ganondorf saw what this one was. It had its headtail bunched up largely, as if in an attempt to resemble human hair, a rare thing among the Zora women, and judging from that…

The Princess.

Ganondorf reared around her, and quickly dealt her a punch to the back of the neck, and she collapsed almost immediately after one final gasp of air, skidding slightly across the ice. Ganondorf moved slowly toward her, his hand stretched out and covered with a misty glow. Ganondorf neared her, and saw her shivering. She was cold, feeling it like any other creature. Her body was barely still alive, yet it managed to shiver. 'You too, have felt the cold' his mind said. The glow on his hand lightened, and he placed it on her brow. The ice wouldn't kill her, or any other of the Zora in the pool. Ganondorf took his hand away, and looked at it. It too was shivering. He grunted and pulled his cape around him, and left the Zora Domain. Left it to go back to Hyrule Castle. It had been a longer night then expected.


End file.
